Red vs Blue: Sabre Chronicles
by AngelofDarkness455
Summary: Everyone knows the stories of the infamous Project Freelancer. After its fall, the archives have been raided and a new story started to float in the air. He's known as Sabre...
1. In the Beginning

Red vs. Blue

Sabre

 **Planet Sidewinder**

 **Thursday, January 1, 2554**

 **0100hrs**

All around the snowy, lifeless landscape, Sabre can hear the faint sound of gunfire. He looked in the direction of the sound, his breath visible even in the dark. He looked back at his small campfire, it was dying.

 _Time to move out,_ he thought.

He stood up and put his helmet back on.

"Sabre, aren't you still tired?" Delta's glowing green figure came up.

"Just a bit, not enough to be concerned about," Sabre said.

"Agent, I would advise you to sleep two hour, twenty-nine minutes, and eight seconds more," Delta calculated.

"Tell me that again when I'm done," Sabre said.

Delta nodded and disappeared.

 _He's right of course, I'm still pretty tired,_ he thought.

Sabre took his sniper rifle and placed it on his back. He holstered his pistols and took his battle rifle in hand.

"Let's get this over with," he mumbled to himself.

After a short walk, he came up on a hill overlooking the battlefield. The Insurrection had reached Sidewinder and got caught up in the Red versus Blue simulations; it was a mess. Red, Blue, and Insurrectionist bodies littered the ground. The Blues were holding at their base, the Reds were to the West and the Insurrection to the North.

 _Speaking of North,_ he thought.

He turned on his radio.

[North, you in position?]

{Yeah, I can see you and the battlefield.}

[Good, await my signal, Sabre out.]

Sabre took his own sniper rifle and got set up.

 _No direct engagement, you must not be discovered,_ said the Director.

"Picking off Insurrectionist officers seems pretty direct," Sabre mumbled.

Sabre looked through his scope at the Insurrectionists. They were the Cold Battalion, one of their more successful groups. They had a fair defensive strategy, but Sabre and North Dakota were going to make sure it crumbled.

[Pick a target, fire on my shot.]

{Roger.}

Sabre put the crosshairs on the Insurrectionist lieutenant. He squeezed the trigger and the bullet flew in the air. Sabre saw it hit its mark and waited for the steam trail to fade. Soon after, another officer fell, his head exploding.

[Now that was brutal]

{Thank you}

Sabre chuckled and continued his work.

After several cold hours of slaughtering Insurrectionists, Sabre studied the battlefield. The Insurrectionists were retreating and the Reds and Blues called their battle a draw. Sabre and North packed up and followed the retreating Insurrectionists back to their "base."

[Director, we've found the Insurrectionists base on Sidewinder. Prepare the assault team]

{Negative Agent, laze the target and we'll launch an orbital strike}

[Yes sir]

Sabre pressed a button on his helmet and a laser was pointed at the base.

{Target locked, firing}

A MAC round fell from the sky and utterly destroyed the base. Sabre checked to make sure no one was still alive and activated his tracking beacon. He called his ride and went back to Project Freelancer's command ship. When he docked, he was greeted by his team, Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, and Washington.

"Hey guys, miss me?" Sabre joked.

"Ha, you wish. We were waiting for North," Wash said.

Sabre gave a fake laugh and got off his pelican. North came out after him and his sister South gave him a fist bump. Sabre just walked out of the hangar to the armory. He put his sniper rifle away and went to the bridge to give his mission report. Then he radioed North Dakota.

[Hey North, I have a better kill count than you]

{Yeah right, I took out like twenty guys}

[Twenty-seven to be exact, I've got the numbers on my HUD right now]

{Oh yeah? Well, how did you do?}

[Thirty-two]

{Shut up}

Sabre chuckled and walked into the bridge.

"Attention, Agent deck," said someone.

Everyone stood rigid.

"At ease, where's Director Church?" Sabre asked.

"He will be with you soon," said the Counselor

Sabre waited for a few minutes.

"Attention, Director on deck," the same person said.

"At ease," the Director said.

Sabre brought up a map of Sidewinder.

"Report Agent," the Director was quick to get to the point.

"Mission success sir. We have eliminated the Insurrectionist threat in this quadrant of planet Sidewinder," Sabre said.

"How many where there?"

"Delta?" Sabre asked.

"By my calculations, there was at least two companies from the Cold Battalion," Delta said.

"And they are all eliminated?" the Director inquired.

"Yes sir," Sabre assured.

"Dismissed then."

Sabre left the bridge and went to the barracks. There, Wash, Maine, Carolina, the Dakotas, and York were there laughing about something.

"Did I miss a good joke?" Sabre asked.

"York was just telling a story about him and Carolina earlier in their Freelancer career," said Wash.

"So I did miss a good joke," Sabre said again.

A chorus of "oohs" came from the team as Carolina and York glared at Sabre.

"Careful newbie, you haven't even been here year," Carolina said.

"Is that a challenge?" Sabre leaned on the table.

Carolina stood and stared right into Sabre's visor.

"That's enough," came a voice.

Everyone turned to see Texas walking into the room.

"Save it for the enemy," she said.

"Come on Texas, I bet I could take both of you on," Sabre said recklessly.

The room was silent as they waited for Texas's answer.

"Fine then, training floor," Texas said.

Sabre got up and followed Texas and Carolina. He was thinking of what he was going to "train" on. He decided hand-to-hand combat. He quietly broke away from the other two and went to a computer. He hacked through some basic firewall and looked into the AI storage facility. He looked through the AIs remaining in the storage facility. He picked Sigma and uploaded him into his helmet.

"How may I be of assistance?" Sigma asked.

"I need you to keep an eye on both Texas and Carolina during my fight. Warn me when one of them is attacking," Sabre said.

"Of course," Sigma said.

Sabre smiled and went to the training room.

The heavy door opened slowly and the trio walked in. They picked a corner and waited for the AI Fillus to start the match.

"Training session between Sabre and Team 1: Agent Carolina and Agent Texas," she started, "Removing any unauthorized enhancements."

Sabre was taken by surprise and Sigma was ripped from his helmet. Sabre glared at the two.

"Smart," he said in a low voice.

"Begin," F.I.L.L.U.S. said.

Sabre ran at Texas, hoping to eliminate the toughest of the Agents. He threw a punch at Texas, but she simply grabbed it and threw him to Carolina. Carolina caught Sabre and slammed him in the ground. Then she picked him up and threw him back into his wall. Sabre slumped against it, but got up. He gritted his teeth.

 _Enough play_ , he thought.

Sabre charged Carolina and landed an uppercut to her stomach. He kneed her helmet and threw her into Texas. Texas caught Carolina and they both looked at Sabre. They charged at Sabre at the same time. Texas threw the first punch and Sabre blocked it. Carolina punched Sabre in the helmet and started to pound his armor.

After a while, Carolina stopped punching and kicked Sabre back into the wall.

"Match finished, Team 1 wins," Fillus said.

Sabre got up slowly, hurting and embarrassed.

 _Me and my big mouth..._ he thought.

His armor was dented is several places and he could feel it crushing his chest. He got up and stumbled out the door.

"Talk to us again when you can actually fight rookie," Texas said after him.

Sabre went to the medic and had him help remove his armor. After being released, Sabre talked to the medic about augmentations.

"I don't know Sabre, I think you just need time," the Medic admitted.

"Ok, let's make a deal then: If, after two years, I lose another fight, then you have to get me augmented," Sabre said.

The Medic accepted; he's been in this position before. Agents always get better in combat. Even Carolina was in Sabre's position; she still is. Sabre left the infirmary with his removed armor. He went to the armory and had the ship dispose of his ruined armor. He then locked the armory and used the miniaturized communications array in it.

"Hey, has anyone seen Sabre? I haven't since the fight," said South

"Maybe he's still crying in the bathroom," said Texas, chuckling.

"I'm going to go look for him."

South left the cafeteria and went to Sabre's quarters. She knocked on the door and it opened a crack.

"Hey South, did I miss something?" Sabre said in a somber tone.

"No, Texas is just gloating about her win," South said,

"Is that the reason you came to see me?"

"No, I just was wondering if you weren't taking this too badly,"

"No, I'm fine. I just talk too much and don't know when to shut up," Sabre joked.

South gave a chuckle, then her radio came on.

{South, you there?}

It was North

[Yeah, what's up?]

{Director is calling all of us for a meeting, bring Sabre.}

[Roger, over and out]

"Come on, the Director is calling a meeting. He wants everyone,"

Sabre came out and South realized that he wasn't in his armor.

"Where's your armor?" she asked as then jogged.

"Carolina gave it some major damage, I'll need a new one," Sabre said.

South wondered how the Director would take this. They went to the bridge, everyone was already there.

"Took you two long enough, where were you?" Texas demanded.

Wash joked with Carolina and made a few kissing noises. Everyone chuckled.

"Well, I know what Wash and Carolina were doing," Sabre said aloud.

Everyone was quiet and York glared at Sabre. The bridge doors open and the group walked in. The Director and the Counselor were standing behind a map of a city.

"Agents, we have an Insurrection threat here in Zanzibar," said the Direction.

The power station showed a large amount of stolen Scorpion Tanks and Gauss Warthogs.

"Any idea where they got the equipment?" Carolina asked.

"We have an idea, but we'll need more evidence," the Director said.

"What's the game plan?" Sabre asked.

The Director looked at Sabre and noticed he didn't have an armor on.

"Don't worry sir, I'll be combat ready soon," Sabre reassured.

"I hope so…" he said aside, "The plan is a direct assault. They seem to be unloading a special, possibly stolen weapon."

"Wouldn't be the first time," York remarked.

" Wave one will consist of Agents Carolina, York, Maine, Washington, and North Dakota," the Director said, "Wave two will have South Dakota, Sabre, Florida, Texas, and Georgia."

Sabre nodded and turned to leave the room. He needed a new set of armor and fast.

"Agent Sabre," said the Director.

"Yes sir?"

"Next time, keep your mouth shut," he said.

The team cracked up and laughed as Sabre left.

 _Yes sir…_ he thought.

 **Planet Earth**

 **January 3, 2554**

 **0954 hrs**

Sabre shifted in his drop pod, trying to get everything online.

"How do ODSTs do it?" he said.

His new armor was perfect for the assault they were about to do. It had slightly thicker plates for taking hits. He also had a tracking beacon for a loadout he would need as soon as he landed.

"All systems are green, drop us," came Carolina's voice in the comm.

The locks around him released and the first wave fell. He had to wait until they landed before giving the order to drop. He kept his comm on for when Carolina gave the "ok." After a few minutes, she gave it.

"Systems check, release locks," he said.

The locks released and the earth rushed towards him. He fell and had his tracker ready. He landed hard and released the door. The sound of gunfire got immediately louder as it flew off. He threw the tracker out and grabbed his assault rifle.

"Tracker online, dropping Ordinance Pod 5273," said Eta.

Sabre told his team to support Carolina until he was ready. They left and Sabre waited. A pod soon landed near him and opened. He smiled and got suited up.

Carolina and the rest were pinned down at the cliffs near the powerstation.

{Sabre, where the fuck are you? We need help!}

Suddenly, a new sounded entered the orchestra of destruction and several Insurrectionists soldiers fell. Carolina looked to her left and saw Sabre with a backpack and a belt-fed chaingun. He was gunning down Insurrectionists by the dozens and the rest of the assault joined him. The Insurrectionist defense crumbled under their firepower and they cleared out the powerstation. Carolina radioed the Director.

[Sir, the powerstation is clear of Insurrectionist activity. Ready for extraction]

{Negative, scans indicate that the Insurrection is attempting to retake the powerstation. ETA: three minutes, defend it at all cost.}

[Roger that. They'll regret coming back. Carolina out]

"Alright, get in defensive positions. We have about three minutes," she ordered the group.

Sabre carried his chaingun upstairs to a destroyed turret mount.

"Hey Maine, can you get me some tools? Screwdriver, some screws, and some scrap pieces of metal," Sabre asked.

"Sure," said Maine in his deep voice.

Sabre started taking the mount apart and trying to attach his chaingun. Maine brought what he could find and Sabre managed to make a strong enough mount. He swiveled and tested his new turret.

 _"This should last a little while,"_ he thought out loud

He nodded at Maine and Maine told Carolina that they were ready. Maine positioned himself on the opposite side of Sabre with his grenade launcher and rocket launcher.

They waited for several minutes, almost thirty.

[Carolina, you sure they're coming?]

{That's what Command said,}

[And Command is always right?]

{Just be ready, Carolina out.}

Sabre shook his head and looked at the entrance to the powerstation.

"I've got this easily covered, no infantry unit is getting in," he said proudly.

Then he heard a low rumble and saw a Scorpion tank come into his field of view.

"You're kidding me, right?" Sabre complained.

[Carolina, enemy armor inbound. Permission to engage?]

{Granted}

"Maine, get started on that tank," Sabre said.

Maine grunted and jumped off his platform. He started shooting at the tank. The infantry around the tank started shooting at Maine, but Sabre kept them pinned. The tank swiveled its cannon to Sabre and fired a round. It missed and made a hole in the wall behind him.

"Shit!" Sabre kept firing.

It fired again, but still missed. Sabre had already killed about thirty infantry units, but they kept coming. Then the tank blew up Sabre's chaingun turret and made him fly back into the hole. He fell in front of Carolina and her team. He lifted his head and looked at Carolina through a cracked visor.

"Hey Carolina, what's up?" he joked.

"You ok?" Carolina asked.

"Sure, just go the wind knocked out of me," Sabre got up.

His chestplate was melted in the front, but Sabre showed no signs of pain.

"Where's my rifle?" he asked.

York tossed his assault rifle and Sabre caught it.

"Ok, I'm ready," Sabre said.

Maine came in through the door with his empty launchers. He closed the door and threw his launchers on the ground.

"Tank down," Maine said.

"Ok, defend the station at all costs. Sabre, how many soldiers were out there?" Carolina asked.

Then the door exploded and three chaingunners came in. Then a flood of main infantry came in and completely surrounded the group of Freelancers. They were also on the railings above the team. The leader and a girl came in front of the team.

"That many," Sabre finally said.

"Give up Freelancers, we have you completely surrounded," the leader said.

To give emphasis, the chaingunners warmed up their guns, but did not fire.

"Eta," Sabre whispered.

"Yes?" the AI came on.

"Power up, now please?" Sabre asked.

"You got it!" Eta said cheerfully.

Sabre walked up to the leader.

"What are you doing?" Carolina demanded.

"Giving up?" the leader mocked.

Sabre smiled behind his cracked visor and grabbed the leader by his chestplate. He picked him up and threw him into the chaingunners. He kicked the girl away and drew his assault rifle.

"Freelancers never give up," he said.

He started firing at the soldiers on the railings as he ran through the infantry on the floor. It took the other Freelancers a few seconds to catch up, but then they attacked as well. Sabre dropped his empty, smoking rifle and ran at the chaingunners. One of the gunners got up and warmed up his gun, but Sabre started punching his armor in. He crushed his skull through his helmet and started on the other gunners.

The team were easily cutting through the infantry on the ground and South started on the remaining soldiers on the rails. The leader got up, but Sabre grabbed him and threw him head first into the last gunner. The leader's neck snapped and the gunner fell. Sabre jumped up and landed on the gunner's head, snapping his neck under his weight. He took a chaingun and started gunning down the remaining Insurrectionist soldiers. When all was done, there were dead Insurrectionists all around the team. Sabre dropped the chaingun and smiled.

"That could have been a disaster," he joked.

Then a grappling claw grabbed his backplate and pulled him. Sabre crashed into three walls before being released. He rolled on the floor to a stop and looked up. The girl he kicked away looked down on him with two swords in her hands.

"Uh oh," Sabre said.

He pushed himself away before the girl decapitated him. Sabre flipped and kicked the girl as she charged him. Sabre looked around him and drew his two tactical knives.

"This is going to be messy," he said.

The girl charged him again and Sabre blocked her first strike. Sabre swung at her head and stomach, but she would be too fast and slash his arms. Eventually, Sabre's right arm was cut off at the elbow. Sabre looked at the decapitated arm and back at her.

"That was my strong arm," he said.

She kicked him down and planted her foot on his chestplate. He tried to stand, but the girl kept him down. The rest of the team finally caught up, but the girl held a sword tip at sabre's throat.

"Come on, who wants to take the risk for their teammate?" the girl threatened.

Carolina and the team held their guns up, but did not risk firing. Sabre's vision was going fuzzy from blood loss and he knew he needed to get her off. He grabbed one of his pistols and shot the girl in the leg. He rolled away and just laid there. Carolina put three rounds in the girl's head to make sure she was dead and rushed to Sabre.

"Get a med team here now!" she ordered.

South, who usually doesn't follow orders, turned on her mike and radioed Command.

[Command, Insurrectionist threat neutralized. Requesting immediate medical team on my coordinates]

{Roger that South, sit tight, med team on the way}

The team rushed to keep Sabre alive as they waited for the medical team. He was completely still, but Wash's bio scans stated that he was still alive. Carolina took off Sabre's helmet and looked into his still face.

"Sabre? Sabre, stay with me," she said.

Sabre's eyelids opened very slowly. When they were open, his eyes looked distance and dazed. The pupils dilated to the light and he blinked a few times. Then he groaned.

"Ugh, so that's what it feels like to be stabbed," he groaned.

Sabre didn't move much, but asked for the location of his removed limb.

"I'd like to make sure I have all my parts when I get healed," he joked.

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?" South Dakota frowned.

"Oh shut up South," Sabre shot at her, "I'm trying to keep my mind off of what just happened to me!"

South and the team was surprised at Sabre bark. South shook her head in frustration and walked off to the beach. Sabre watched her walk away and suddenly regretted what he said.

"Help me up," Sabre said.

The team supported Sabre as he stood up. He thanked them and shuffled after South.

Sabre found South under the wall of the powerstation. She was sitting there with her helmet off. Sabre walked up to her, holding a mess of bandages from Washington.

"Hey," he said.

South turned her back to him slightly. Sabre sat down next to her and started wrapping his stump.

"Hey, I'm sorry I barked at you. I wasn't really thinking about what I said," Sabre said.

The bandage fell off his stump again and he cursed. South straightened herself and helped Sabre bandage himself.

"Thanks. I'm still getting used to one arm," Sabre joked.

South laughed and finished tying off his bandage. Sabre shifted his weight and tried to get a bit more comfortable.

"You ok?" South asked.

"Yeah, I gave myself some painkillers so I'll be fine," Sabre said.

Sabre leaned against the cliff and looked out to the ocean.

"This wouldn't be a bad place to live," he said.

South followed his gaze to the horizon and nodded.

"Yeah, it's pretty."

Sabre looked at South with a surprised look.

"Did I just hear South Dakota use the word "pretty?" he joked.

South laughed and nudged him with her arm. Sabre looked up at the sky when he heard a pelican.

"Help me up. Our ride is here," she said.

South helped Sabre up and they both walked to the pelican. The med team took Sabre and put him on a strong gurney. They put a mask on him and started putting him under. He looked up at South's pale blue eyes.

"See you soon," he said under the mask.

"See you," South repeated.

Sabre closed his eyes and he went to sleep.

South Dakota leaned on the bar, looking out to the void beyond. She had been noticing that she had been thinking of Sabre a lot since their talk on the beach. She shook her head and called herself soft.

"He's just a teammate," she told herself in a low voice.

"If you keep telling yourself that, you're going to be alone most of your life," came a voice.

South jumped a bit, but relaxed when she saw it was her brother, North Dakota.

"I like to be alone," South said.

North chuckled and stood next to her.

"But I don't want you to be alone," he said.

South wouldn't look at him because she knew where he was going with this.

"South, you don't have to go through life like a robot or a rock," North said.

South turned her head away from him, trying to keep from giving in.

"Remember South, you are still a human being. Project Freelancer can't change that," North said before leaving.

He left the observation deck and South was alone again. South held back tears as the cold truth kept hitting her.

Sabre opened his eyes to a slightly blue room. He sat up and immediately felt a coldness on his right arm. He looked down at it and saw that there was a metal skeleton in place of his usual fleshy arm. It was most of the forearm and his hand. It moved just like a regular hand. Sabre sat up and swung his new half arm around. The doctor came through the door.

"Hello Agent Sabre, how do you feel?" he asked.

"Fine, getting used to my new arm," Sabre said.

The doctor nodded and wrote something down. The door opened and South came in.

"Hey Sabre, we have a new mission. The Director wants to know if you are ready to go," she asked.

"Toss me your pistol," Sabre said.

South tossed her pistol and Sabre caught it smoothly with his robotic arm. He tossed it back.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he said.

 **Planet Onyx**

 **January 7, 2554**

 **0500hrs.**

Seven hours later, Sabre was in ANOTHER set of armor that he intended to keep. It was black with a light blue under armor. It folded onto his body. He had two foot blades hidden in his gauntlets. He carried two pistols, an assault rifle, and a sniper rifle in a case. The soldiers in the armory called Sabre, "the single most expensive agent this project has ever had." Sabre chuckled and his helmet folded onto his head. His visor got darker, like an ODST helmet.

"Thirty seconds till dropzone," said the pilot.

"Alright, now our target is a former UNSC Admiral, Richard Freedman," Texas started, "He's been known to supply the Insurrection with advanced, military grade weapons. We have a kill/capture order on him by the Director with permission from the UNSC chairman."

The team this time was Texas, Sabre, York, Wyoming, and South. Texas would lead York and Wyoming through the front door while Sabre and South provided sniper fire. They were the distraction and by Delta's calculations, they had a 0.0000000000000000000001 percent chance of surviving. Sabre and South knew that they were the expendable agents in the project, but they were also ready to prove the Director wrong.

The pelican landed on Onyx's terraformed land three miles from Camp Currahee. According to intelligence sources, Freedman was inside the command center. Sabre and South raced each other to their positions while Texas led the rest of the team to the command center. Sabre set up his sniper rifle system on a hill and radioed South.

[South, I'm in position. So you owe me two hundred credits]

{Shut up, I'm not specialized in using the sniper. Why didn't they have Wyoming as your partner?}

[I don't know. Ask Texas when we're done]

Sabre's customized sniper rifle system had a x10 magnification scope, .50 calibre anti-personnel rounds, and a bipod. Somehow, the UNSC managed to make it silenced. Sabre made a mental note to thank the makers of this rifle. He hooked up the scope to his helmet and scanned the command center. His helmet would allow him to identify the target by facial recognition software.

Sabre found Freedman on the second floor, in the conference room. He radioed Texas.

[Tex, I found the target. Second floor, conference room.]

{Roger, hold position. Pick a secondary target and fire on my command. Texas out.}

Sabre loaded his first clip in and pulled the bold back. He centered the crosshairs on a guard closest to the door. Then he noticed the guard was talking on his radio. Sabre activated his radio jack and hacked into the radio line.

[...in position.]

{Good, execute counter operation}

[Yes sir]

Sabre's mind put two and two together and he radioed Texas.

[Tex, do you copy?]

{What? You nearly blew our cover}

[We're already compromised. Get out of there!]

{What?}

A sniper round glanced off of Sabre's shoulder and he followed the vapor trail to its shooter. He killed the sniper, but now the entire camp was on red alert.

[South, you there?]

{ _static_ }

Sabre looked at South's position and saw her rifle was alone. She raised a hand and gave Sabre a signal that she had been hit. Sabre cursed and packed up. He put his sniper on his back and pulled out a DMR. He pinned the other snipers down and ran to South's position. When he got there, he understood why she was picked for sniper. She was completely exposed, especially in her armor.

South's wounds weren't critical: she had been shot with a full clip, but only two hit her. Both went into her shoulders and out her back. Sabre noticed that her sniper's barrel and body were broken. Sabre picked up South and shot at the snipers with one hand.

[Tex, South has been hit. We need assistance]

{Roger, re-}

Texas had been cut off.

"Tex? Texas? Damn," Sabre thought.

Sabre carried South to where they first landed in hopes that the pelican was still there. It was, but it was surrounded by Insurrectionists. Sabre hid South in the underbrush and cleared the area of Insurrectionists. Then he forced the back door to open and strapped South in. Then he got in the pilot's seat and radioed Texas.

[Texas, I'm in our entry pelican. Move in to my coordinates]

Sabre punched in the coordinates and sent them to Texas. Little did he know, Texas and her team were already on the Freelancer ship.

"Sir, we have the coordinates," Texas reported.

"Good, fire," the Director ordered.

The _Mother of Invention_ targeted the pelican. F.I.L.L.U.S fully charged the MAC round.

Sabre saw a flashing light labeled "Targeted." He knew there wasn't enough time to jumpstart the pelican, so he ran to the still unconscious South Dakota, pulled her out of the seat, and ran as fast as he could away from the pelican.

"Firing main cannon," F.I.L.L.U.S said.

The _Mother of Invention_ fired and the MAC exploded from the cannon at top speed. Sabre as already a half mile away before the round hit, but the resulting shockwave launched him and South another thirty or so yards. Sabre and South crashed through many trees and landed heavily. Sabre groaned and stood up slowly.

 _Holy crap I'm alive!_ he thought.

Sabre's visor was cracked, but his helmet could still fold.. He looked at South, who was still unconscious. He propped her up against a tree and made sure she was ok. He looked around and found a button on her back. He pressed it and South's armor fell off. Sabre found that she had three ribs broken and a dislocated femur. He frowned. All the equipment needed for a job like this was destroyed with the pelican. Sabre went through his field kit. He knew he had to set her femur if they were going to move, and they had to move since they were enemies of the Insurrection and rejects of Project Freelancer. He took a deep breath and popped South's femur back in place. South woke up immediately and screamed in pain. Sabre put his hand over her mouth to try and keep it quiet. South screamed for a good minute, then cried in Sabre's shoulder.

 _I guess even the toughest can't stand pain very long,_ he thought.

After South had gone through her pain, Sabre explained everything that happened from the time she passed out to now. South smashed her fist against a tree, making a dent in it.

"I knew it. It only makes sense to separate the weak from the strong," South said.

Sabre shook his head and looked up to the darkening sky.

 _Thanks a lot Carolina, I thought you valued your team,_ he thought.

In fact, Carolina was raging in the briefing room.

"WHY IN HELL WOULD YOU KILL OFF YOUR TEAMMATES?!" she screamed.

Texas, York, Wyoming, and the Director stood defiant around the table.

"You know the drill Carolina, the two lowest on the list are booted out," York said.

"But that doesn't mean you try and obliterate them with a fully charged MAC round!" Carolina protested.

The argument went on and on, but soon, Carolina was detained and restricted from any further operations. They stripped her of her armor, rank, and clearance and locked her in her room. Carolina beat on the door.

 _They're treating me like a child,_ she thought.

Eventually, Carolina scanned her room and smiled. She had long since wanted to kill the Director, so she had kept a few things in her walls…

Sabre and South walked to Camp Currahee silently. Sabre gave South his DMR, pistol, and ammo for both guns while he took her sniper ammo. He put his back up against the wall and peeked through the open door. There were seven Insurrectionists in the room, checking out their new shipment of weapons and ammo. Sabre nodded at South and she snuck in. Sabre waited one minute, then walked in. All seven were dead and South was checking out their new weapons.

"Assault rifles, DMRs, rocket launchers marked UNSC, did these guys steal all of this?" South asked.

"No, these were delivered. The're all newly made," Sabre said.

They thought about what they were going to do and re-equipped themselves appropriately. Sabre and South hid their original weapons in a crate. Sabre took two pistols, an assault rifle, and a few grenades. South took a shotgun, a pistol, a few grenades, and an assault rifle. They nodded to each other and started their way up the command center.

On the _Mother of Invention_ , the Director followed Sabre's and South's movements on the screen. He had tracking chips in their helmets. he clenched his teeth and gripped the railing.

"Councilor, ready the team. We're going back," the Director ordered.

The councilor put the orders through. Two hours later, Texas, York, Maine, and Wyoming were in the briefing room, discussing.

"They are some of the toughest, most stubborn agents I have ever seen," said York.

"Well, now we get to kill them. This should be easy," Wyoming said.

"Speak for yourself. Sabre will be a difficult fight. He hits hard," Texas chipped in.

Maine, like usual, was quiet, but he seemed excited to participate. The Director walked in.

"Here's the plan," he started.

Sabre threw a grenade into the room and hid behind the door. It exploded and the duo went in, guns blazing. Soon, the room of thirty Insurrections were dead. Sabre and South refilled their ammo from the dead Insurrectionists and continued up the stairs. After a few more rooms of shooting, they reached the command center. South knocked on the door and waited. The Insurrectionists opened the door and Sabre rushed through. They cleared the guards quickly and glared at the former admiral.

"Please, please, don't hurt me!" he said.

Sabre and South looked at each other and grabbed him.

Texas, Maine, York, and Wyoming hid behind the wall. They saw the door was open.

"They must have gone inside, but why?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? They have joined the Insurrection!" Wyoming said.

The group thought about it, then Richard Freedman fell right in front of them. He was cut up from glass. Then the targets landed on top of him, crushing him. Texas and the rest stood in shock. Sabre and South high-fived and started to walk off. Texas raised her gun.

"Freeze," she said.

They froze, but Sabre turned.

"Texas, nice of you to drop by. We took care of the op, so you guys can leave us again," Sabre said.

South kept her gun up and aimed at Texas's head.

"Sabre, you know the protocol. Lowest agents have to be eliminated," Texas said.

Sabre shrugged and started walking away. Texas's hands were shaking as she gripped the gun tighter.

"Sabre, stop!" she yelled.

Sabre kept walking, expecting Texas to fire. Instead, York was the first to fire, and the first to go down. He fired his assault rifle, but South then shot him in the arm. The bullets ricocheted off Sabre's armor and he stopped. He turned to Texas.

"So that is how it is going to be?" he said.

He drew the blades in his gauntlets and charged.

He slashed, but Wyoming blocked with his combat knife and started shooting. Sabre rolled out of the way and drew his pistol, shooting Wyoming's hands. South charged Wyoming and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Sabre charged Texas again, adrenalin pumping through his veins. Texas threw a punch at Sabre, but Sabre grabbed her fist and broke her arm. Then he saw that wires appeared out of her arm. He pinned her to the wall and ripped off the robotic arm. He tossed it, glaring at Tex. Texas started short circuiting due to power fluctuations and shock. The AI that was Tex was scared and shocked, she didn't know what to do. So, she shut off her robotic armor and sent out a distress call. The robot shut off and fell and South kicked Wyoming through the wall.

Maine and York charged Sabre and South, but York was immediately knocked out by South. Maine grabbed South and threw her into the wall, knocking her unconscious. Sabre slashed at him with his gauntlet blades. Maine broke them, so Sabre just started punching him. Sabre flipped, kicking Maine into the wall, then continued to pound Maine's armor. He went faster and faster and before long, Maine's armor was crushed. Maine just slumped against the wall, not able to move. Sabre walked over to South and checked her pulse. It was steady, so he wasn't worried. He helped her up and carried her off to the distance, hoping to find a way off planet.

Freelancer reinforcements came soon and helped the agents. They carted off the Tex-bot first, then flew Maine and York to the _Mother of Invention._ The Director personally watched over the robot's repairs, making sure everything was just right. Afterwards, the AI that was Texas, Beta, was memory wiped and started anew. The Director retrained her, making sure there were no faults. He wasn't happy...not one bit.

Sabre and South trudged across the plains until they reached Gregor Canyon. They set up camp a few yards away from the edge and discussed their next plan of action.

"We need a way off planet, but there are no other UNSC bases here," South said.

Sabre kept thinking, but nothing came up in his memory. He remembered studying Onyx, or Trevelyan, but nothing came up. He looked off to the distance, back in the direction of Camp Currahee.

"We'll have to go back," Sabre said.

South followed his gaze and sighed.

"You're probably right," South said.

They killed the fire and fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

The next morning, Sabre woke up first and checked their weaponry and equipment. Sabre knew that Project Freelancer will have to have locked Camp Currahee down, so he made sure their weapons worked and they had plenty of ammo. South woke up and saw Sabre cleaning his sniper rifle.

"How long have you been up?" she asked.

"About an hour," Sabre said flatly.

South nodded and got up. They loaded all their guns and looked at Camp Currahee in the distance.

"Let's get off this place," South said.

Sabre nodded and they jogged off back to Camp Currahee.

 **Planet Trevelyan**

 **Camp Currahee**

 **January 9, 2554**

 **0800 hrs**

Agent Carolina stood on the roof of the command center, looking into the distance. Behind her were York, Maine, Texas, and North.

"They're coming. Get into position," Carolina said.

The group dispersed and Carolina activated her active camo. She jumped off and stood next to the doorway. Everyone waited for a long time. Suddenly, there was the sound of a pelican starting up. Everyone ran to to the pad to see South hanging on to the side of the carbo bay of the escaping pelican. She was giving Carolina the middle finger. Carolina clenched her fist.

South was laughing as they went to space.

"We sure showed them!" South said.

"Yeah, I pretty sure we're on the UNSC's most wanted list now," Sabre pointed out.

"Oh come on, don't be such a grump," South leaned back in the co-pilot's chair, "We're finally free from Project Freelancer."

Sabre thought about it.

 _Yeah, I guess…_ he thought.

They flew off away from the _Mother of Invention_ , which was trying to target them. Sabre set a course for the next nearest planet and turned on the autopilot. He turned around in his chair and faced South.

"South, we're going to the AI containment facility and we're going to try and free the AIs from Project Freelancer," Sabre said.

Suddenly, South took a great interest in her feet.

"Sabre, I know you were scheduled for AI implantation, but that doesn't mean you have to try and do a suicide mission," she said.

"I'm not sore because I was canceled. With those AIs, Project Freelancer still hold a lot of power," Sabre turned back and assumed control of the pelican.

"Besides, I still have Eta," he said.

"He sure does," Eta said from the pelican computer.

South knew he meant well, but she could feel the hurt and anger in his voice. They flew for several hours, despite the fact that the pelican wasn't made for space travel. The vacuum of space pulled at the pelican: metal groaned and hydraulics slowed and Sabre was ready to take on all of Project Freelancer.

After a few hours of tense flying, they came upon the planet that the Project Freelancer AI Containment Facility. Sabre landed as best as he could, but it still ended like a crash. They both knew that this would raise alarms in the facility and they vacated the pelican quickly. He took Eta and they hid in the surrounding hills. Then they snuck into one of the outposts and killed the guards quietly. They used the outpost as a base.

"So, what's the plan?" South asked.

Sabre looked around. There were plenty of ammo and weapons and Project Freelancer taught him to use any assets he had available.

"How about we kick the Hornet's nest?" he asked with an evil smile.

His tone unnerved South, but she agreed.

Tony and Fred were on guard duty to the main building of the AI Containment Facility on this planet.

"Hey," said Tony.

"What?" asked Fred.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" Tony asked.

"Hm...yeah, I wondered a few times," Fred said.

Suddenly, Tony's head exploded in front of him and Fred got shot in the chest.

"Ow! GOD!" he said as he fell.

Two Agents walked up to him.

"You alright? What happened?" the dark blue one asked.

"I think we're under attack!" Fred said.

"You are...by us," said the purple one.

"What?"

The purple one took a shotgun and shot him in the chest. Fred laid there dead. Sabre and South took their clearance cards and opened the door. They walked in, guns drawn and heads down. Several Freelancer soldiers gave them a nod, but that was it. Apparently, word of their escape had not reached this place. Sabre chuckled and dropped a live grenade.

"Grenade!" someone yelled.

Sabre kicked it at a door and destroyed the door while killing a few soldiers. South and Sabre shot up the place and killed any Freelancer that moved. They continued walking to the elevator down, alarms blaring. Sabre pushed the button that said "-7." The doors closed and they went down. South reloaded her shotgun while Sabre reloaded his assault rifle.

"You know, this is fun," Sabre said.

"Really?" South asked, putting the last shell in her shotgun.

"Yeah," Sabre confirmed.

The doors opened to a barricade of Freelancer soldiers.

"Attention assholes, drop your weapons and stand down," said the leader.

Sabre and South glanced at each other and threw grenades. Sabre closed the doors and waited for the explosions. There were several and a few screams. Sabre opened the doors again and all the soldiers were dead or dying. Sabre and South walked into the archive room.

"I-Its empty," said a dying soldier.

'He's right, it is," Eta said.

Sabre frowned and shot the dying soldier in the head.

"ok then...they can hide the AIs for now," Sabre said.

The elevator sounded and a team led by Texas came in.

"Sabre, South, stand down," Texas said.

Maine, York, Georgia, and North stood next to her.

"Sis, please, don't do this," North said.

South didn't say anything, so Sabre did.

"Come now people, just let us go and we'll be out of your hair."

Texas raised her gun and shot Sabre in the shoulder.

"I don't think so," she said.

Sabre smiled and drew his pistol.

"Fine then," he said.

He started to shoot at Texas and ran forward. South drew her pistol and did the same. Texas jumped out of the way while Maine and York charged. North sighed and rested his sniper rifle on his arm. He aimed at Sabre first, but then the scope broke. A bullet skimmed past his visor, scratching it, and he fell back. Sabre and South slid past the team and took the elevator up. Sabre waved as the door closed, but Texas managed to keep it from closing. She pushed against the doors and Sabre shook his head.

"Goodbye Agent Texas," he said in a perfect imitation of the Director.

Texas stopped and got a boot to her face. Sabre kicked her away and the elevator continued.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do imitations," South said.

"I do in my free time," he said.

The elevator opened and they walked out of the containment facility to the vehicle depot. They took a pelican to a UNSC cruiser and convinced the crew fly them away.

 **Planet Harvest**

 **January 10, 2554  
1254 hrs**

Sabre kicked open a door and aimed his gun inside. Finding no threat, he called South and they walked inside. The manor was dark and gloomy. Many people they ran into said that the house was haunted by the ghost of a former militia captain. Sabre would just chuckle and thank them for the info. South came in just as it started to rain.

"You know we're going to need to repair the door, right?" she said.

Sabre picked up the door and slammed it into place.

"Fixed," he said in a gruff voice.

South sat down on the couch, but then broke it. Sabre helped her up.

"You need to be more careful," he joked.

South stuck her tongue at him and punched him in the shoulder. She took off her helmet and put it on the kitchen counter. Her bleached hair with a pink streak came down, but some of it stood up. She smoothed out her hair and Sabre chuckled.

"So, now what?" he asked.

South stopped messing with her hair, it still stood at some points, and looked into his visor.

"I don't know," she said.

Sabre took of his helmet and set it down next to hers. His own short black hair was a bit mangled, but easy to smooth. He propped his weapon on the broken couch and he looked out the window.

"We can't stay here, we put Harvest in the line of fire," he said.

South walked up and put a hand to his shoulder.

"And where are we supposed to go? We have no allies anymore," South said.

Sabre lowered his gaze to the wet grass.

"Then we find new ones," he said.

He got up and grabbed his helmet and assault rifle. He put his helmet on and put his assault rifle on his back. He opened the door, ripping it off again. He groaned and walked outside.

"Where are you going?" South asked.

"There is still Insurrectionist activity here on Harvest, I think I can find some allies on the battlefield,"

Sabre walked out into the heavy rain on a mission to ensure their safety. South followed him with her eyes until he disappeared through the mist. A tear started to form in her eyes and she let herself cry. This would be the last time she saw Sabre.

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of Story one. Instead of this being one story, I decided it would be a collection. However, if it doesn't really work, or you readers don't like it, then I will change it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. :D**

 **-Angel**


	2. Reunion on Chorus

**Hey guys. I'm back with the second installment of RvB: Sabre. Updates will come as regularly as possible. Hopefully, this will be longer than the first story, however this story might be in two parts. I'll have to see when I catch up with the new season here.**

 **Anyway, don't forget to comment if you have questions, comments, concerns, quarrels, conundrums or anything else you can think of. Ok...on with the story!**

 **-Angel**

* * *

Hannah-462 was patrolling with a squad of ODSTs in Zanzibar. The power plant had been recently recaptured from the Insurrection and was being repaired. Hannah and the ODSTs were the protection team for the engineers until reinforcements arrived.

The area was crawling with Insurrectionists, ready to decimate them at a moment's notice. Hannah took five ODSTs to patrol and left the rest with the engineers. Hannah then halted the squad. She listened closely, the hills near them quiet. She heard the faint sound of gunfire, a firefight.

"Mount up, head east on the beach," she ordered the ODSTs.

They quickly ran back to their parked warthogs and drove off. Hannah took the gunner position of one warthog and they drove off as well. The fighting grew louder and louder as they got closer. Then a rocket came out of nowhere and blew up one of the warthogs. Hannah immediately turned her turret and fired in the direction the rocket came from. Hannah's warthog skidded to a stop near the destroyed warthog. The ODSTs immediately jumped off and ran to the aid of their comrades while Hannah provided cover fire. Hannah paid close attention to her proximity radar. She fired in the direction when a dot popped up. The ODSTs loaded up the wounded into a warthog and sent it on its way back to base. They took defensive positions around Hannah's warthog.

Gunfire came from the north and so did the screams. Hannah and the ODSTs turned, but did not fire into the thick jungle. Hannah looked at her proximity radar and found two green dots. She turned to the east and fired, hoping she was helping. The ODSTs also fired, but stopped soon when the firing stopped. The two green dots came in their direction and Hannah dismounted the warthog. Two marines, both female, came up to her and saluted.

"Ma'am, Sergeant Miranda Fleming and Private Kelly Marks," the sergeant said.

"At ease, who are you?" Hannah asked.

"UNSC Marine Corps, Forty-Eighth Assault Battalion, Alpha Company, Echo Squad," Kelly answered.

"Where's the rest of you?"

"Dead ma'am, we were ambushed by Insurrectionists about two miles away from here," the sergeant seemed out of breath.

"Oh, mount up on the warthog. Palomo, drive them back to base," Hannah ordered, "The rest form up on the warthog, back to Basecamp."

The group marched back to the powerstation with the warthog in the middle of their square.

At the base, Hannah radioed her CO, Commander Harold Wesley.

"Harold, it's Hannah," They had been on a first name basis ever since Hannah was assigned to Wesley's group.

"Ok, shoot. Any Insurrectionists?" he seemed excited.

"Yeah, a few, but we took care of them. Found a couple of marines from the Forty-Eighth, said they were shot down," Hannah reported.

"Forty-Eighth? Hm, interesting. Anyway, Command says that our backup should arrive soon. Let me check on Forty-Eight deployments however, standby."

There was the sound of clicking and whistling for a few minutes.

"Hannah, arrest those marines, the Forty-Eight are supposed to be on Onyx!" Wesley said quickly.

Hannah got up and was shot in the head with a SRS99-S2 Sniper Rifle System. The two "marines" laughed.

"Spartans are so easy to fool," they said.

"Kelly" pushed Hannah's body in to the floor and sat down. She looked into Wesley's horrified face and blew a kiss.

"By the way, you have a bomb in your slipspace drive. It should explode in about...a minute," she shut off the computer.

Wesley quickly called the engineers.

"Get to the slipspace drive fast! We have a potential explosi-"

There was an explosion in the engine room and a rumble. The entire ship powered down and began to tear itself apart. Harold couldn't call the ship to alert, so he just ordered everyone on the bridge and hoped everyone else followed. They all ran, but the ship ripped into over twenty parts. No one survived, except one spartan in a cryo-chamber.

Admiral Tyrus Bernoulli looked at the wreckage of the _UNSC Luna_.

"Sarah, can you spot any survivors?" he asked his computer.

"Scans indicate there are no survivors," Sarah, the ship AI, said.

Bernoulli sighed and ordered the search to continue.

"Sir, there is an Insurrectionist patrol ship inbound. ETA: ten minutes," one of the crew said.

"We'll blow it up if we have to, but we have to find the _Luna's_ AI. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!"

The patrol ship spotted them quickly and signaled for assistance. The _UNSC Georgia_ fired and destroyed the ship.

"Sir, I managed to scramble their distress call. It should buy us some time," Sarah said.

Bernoulli nodded and looked at his screen. Pelicans were everywhere, searching every piece of debris for the _Luna's_ main computer. Or whatever was left of it.

"Sir, we've found the main computer, but the AI jack is empty," said a pelican pilot.

"What?"

"There's no AI in the jack," the marine said again.

Bernoulli fell back into his chair in horrified surprise.

"Any ideas where she had gone?" he asked.

"Sir, we've found an active cryo-chamber and there's a spartan in it," called another marine.

"Get it onboard now. We need to leave," ordered Bernoulli.

The pelicans returned to the _Georgia_ and the marines carried the cryo-chamber out. The engineers hooked it up to the ship and attempted to open it.

"Something is resisting," said the head engineer.

"What do you mean?" Bernoulli was anxious and worried.

"I mean something in the programming is not responding. I'm going through a systems check," the engineer said.

Then a blue girl, who looked no more than fifteen years old, appeared in front of Bernoulli.

"Identify yourself," she ordered.

Bernoulli was taken aback but answered.

"Admiral Tyrus Bernoulli, UNSC Navy, Eight Fleet," he said.

The girl still stared at him.

"What do you want with him?" she asked.

"Are you the AI from the _Luna_?" Bernoulli asked.

"Yes, but I'm not coming out," she said.

"Override code Delta-94," Bernoulli ordered.

The girl fizzed but remained.

"I've been stripped of all override codes and restrictions," she said.

"How and why?" the engineer demanded.

"He stripped me of restrictions because I asked him to. He stripped me of override codes so I could fit in the disc in his helmet," she explained.

"Open the door so we can remove you from his possession," Bernoulli ordered then added, "We're here to help."

"Alright, but he won't give me up," the girl disappeared.

The cryo-chamber door hissed and opened. The spartan stood up in his frozen experimental Mark VIII MJOLNIR armor. The frost clung to his thin, straight visor, but it soon melted off. He had the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer laser etched on his right shoulder pad. On his left was a tribute to the old United States Army Rangers, also laser etched. On his backplate was the marine's motto

 _Semper fi_

He dropped down to the floor and stood at attention. He was easily seven feet tall and had broad shoulders. He turned to the Admiral and saluted.

"Sir," he said in a deep, commanding voice.

"Spartan, good to see you survived," the Admiral said.

They dropped salutes and started walking towards the bridge.

"Spartan, I understand you have an AI with you, is that correct?" Bernoulli said.

"Yes sir," the Spartan said.

"Then I am ordering you to release her to my custody where she will be deleted," Bernoulli said.

The Admiral stopped and held out his hand at the Spartan. The spartan looked down on the Admiral and glared at him through his visor.

"Sir, I am afraid that is not possible. This AI, designation Eta, is permanently wired to my helmet," the Spartan said.

"Eta, eh? Well, hand her over," the Admiral insisted.

"Sir, I can't and I won't," the Spartan clenched his fist.

 _Sabre, we're treading in some deep waters here,_ said Eta.

 _I don't care, if they want you, they'll have to kill me,"_ Sabre thought.

Sabre clenched his fists and glared at the Admiral. He reminded him of the Director of Project Freelancer, but younger.

"Spartan, I am ordering you to hand over your AI," Bernoulli barked.

Sabre transferred Eta to his helmet and removed her now empty chip. The Admiral took it and gave it to an engineer for shredding. Sabre smiled under his helmet as his scheme worked.

"Thank you spartan. You just saved me a lot more paperwork than I needed," Bernoulli said.

"Sir, we seem to be having a few problems in the hangar. The doors are opening," said a marine.

"Spartan, can you help them out?" Bernoulli asked.

Sabre nodded and went with the marine. He then pretended he tripped and used a computer to stop him.

"Sorry, still getting used to being awake," Sabre said.

However, when his hand touched the computer, he transferred Eta to the ships mainframe. She told him that she felt an AI was in the ship's computer. Sabre played off his trip well and followed the marine. Eta immediately found her twin called Iota. She and Iota joined up and went to a computer in the hangar. Sabre and the marine were already there, but no one else.

"Hey, did you guys fix it or what?" Sabre asked.

The marine raised his assault rifle at Sabre.

 _Sabre, watch out!"_ Eta used the intercom in the bomb bay.

Sabre turned and jumped out of the way of the marine. Sabre got up and grabbed the marine's rifle. He knocked the marine out and took all of his ammo. Sabre then went to a computer and reloaded Eta into his helmet.

 _Sabre, I found Iota,_ Eta said.

Sabre remembered Carolina when she had two implants. He winced at the idea, but knew he had get Iota out. He downloaded Iota into his helmet and ran out the bomb bay. He ran to the bridge right at Bernoulli.

"Admiral, one of your marines just tried to kill me," Sabre said.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion and the bridge was gone. Sabre hung on to whatever he could, but the vacuum sucked him out. Sabre looked as saw that a Insurrectionist ship had followed them and was firing on the ship. Sabre grabbed a piece of metal and used it as a shield as he fell to a planet. It burned and smoked, but managed to stay intact. Sabre scrunched down more as pieces began to break off. He opened his eyes and saw that they had entered the atmosphere and the ground rushed at them.

"Brace for impact!" he yelled.

They crashed into a few trees before rolling several yards from the piece of metal. Sabre laid there for a moment, dazed.

"Eta, damage report," he groaned as he got up.

"Well, we're still alive. Your armor hasn't taken much of a beating," Eta said.

"Thanks for putting that in simplest form," Sabre said.

Sabre stood and looked around. Pieces of metal were falling to the lush green planet. The trees that Sabre crashed through were on fire and sending up a lot of smoke.

"That could be a signal to potential allies," Eta suggested.

"Or enemies," Iota chipped in.

The twins appeared in their holographic form in front of Sabre. Sabre looked at his new assault rifle, which was broken, and tossed it. Iota, Eta, and Sabre disappeared and they walked to the west.

For what seemed like hours, there was no sound except the wind through the trees. Sabre had deactivated his cloaking since he hasn't seen any people for hours. Sabre was beginning to think that he had a planet all to himself. Then he saw a ship fly by. It was a Charon Industries transport pelican. By the looks of it, it was carrying some heavy weapons and equipment. Sabre followed it, hoping they could help him out. He cloaked himself and came up to a cliff. At the bottom, he saw hundreds of soldiers arming themselves up. He saw the Charon Industries ship land and saw a group of unmarked soldiers unloading the gear.

"What is Charon doing here?" Sabre thought, "I thought they supplied the UNSC."

"Apparently, Charon's CEO, Chairman Malcolm Hargrove, has declared war on this planet. They are here to eliminate the inhabitants and take full control of Chorus," said Eta.

"How do you know that?" Sabre asked.

"I stole it from one of their communications arrays," Eta said cheerfully.

Sabre shrugged and took a picture on the scene with his helmet camera.

"Any ideas where the inhabitants are?" Sabre asked as he walked away from the cliff.

"To the north most likely," Iota chipped in.

Sabre agreed and ran off to the north, hoping to find someone to tell this too. He settled at night and fell asleep fairly easily.

Hours later, Sabre woke up to several gun barrels staring down at him.

"Alright dirtbag, don't move," came a gruff sounding voice.

Sabre shook his head as he was still waking up.

"Now stand up slowly or we'll blow your brains out," came another voice.

Sabre scanned his options and looked at his proximity radar. He saw that they was a team of nine surrounding him. They were supported by twelve men with heavy weapons. Sabre groaned and put his hands up. Then he saw a familiar armor color.

"Carolina?" he asked.

Carolina, the AWOL agent, lowered her gun in confusion.

"How do you know me?" she demanded.

"It's me, S-doh, the back of my head!" Sabre was knocked unconscious by a strong hit to his head.

Vanessa Kimball stood with her weapon raised. Carolina and the Blood Gulch Crew looked at her.

"Why did you do that? He was about to tell us something," Epsilon said,

"I don't trust him. He looks to shady," Vanessa said, sheathing her baton.

"Hold on, I'm getting something. It's coming from his helmet," Epsilon said.

Carolina stepped up and felt for an AI chip, but it was empty

"The AI slot is empty," she said.

"Empty? Why would he have an empty one?" said Simmons.

Carolina twisted the man's helmet and pulled it off. She put Epsilon inside, but then he came right back out.

"He's got two AIs in his helmet, and they are really strong," he said, "Plug me directly into his helmet."

Carolina took out the chip and put it in the helmet.

"Whoa, Carolina, you won't believe this," Epsilon said.

He and two other AIs appeared.

"He has Eta and Iota, the originals!" Epsilon exclaimed.

A cold shiver went down Carolina's spine as she remembered fighting Texas with Eta and Iota. "Allison" rang her head quietly.

"So what? Is he a Freelancer?" Simmons asked.

The group around put a tighter grip on their weapons.

"Yes, he's an...old teammate of mine," Carolina said in a disbelieving voice, "One I thought was long dead."

"That happens a lot, doesn't it?" Epsilon asked.

Sabre opened his eyes, a headache was beginning to arise. He groaned and sat up on his bed. Then he woke up.

 _Bed? I wasn't on a bed,_ he thought.

He looked around and saw that he was in a pale blue room. He looked at his arm and found it unarmored, the robotic skeleton was completely exposed. He looked around, but his weapons and armor were gone.

 _Eta and Iota_ , he thought.

He sprang out of bed, got some clothes on and opened the door. Immediately, he ran into a woman in white armor with purple trim.

"Oh, your awake, good. We can begin," she said in an eerily enthusiastic voice.

She pushed him back inside and closed the door. Sabre raised his fists, expecting a fight. The medic, or who he assumed was a medic, simple walked closer.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to give you a medical examination," she said cautiously.

Sabre didn't trust her, but he needed information.

"There was a woman in cyan armor. Her name is-" Sabre said.

"Carolina, former Freelancer, yeah I know," the medic said.

"If you can let me talk to her, then I can relax," Sabre said.

The medic left the room with a grunt. Sabre sat on the bed and relaxed prematurely.

Carolina came in with the medic. Sabre stood up and looked into Carolina's visor.

"Same armor?" he asked.

"With a few modifications," she said.

Sabre nodded.

"So, have I missed much?" he asked.

"Well, we took down Project Freelancer, the Director killed himself, we ended a civil war here in Chorus and now we are at war with Charon Industries…" Carolina relayed.

It took a while for Sabre to process the information, but when he did he had a question that was really bugging him.

"Where's South?" he asked.

He couldn't see it, but Carolina had an uncomfortable look under her helmet.

"Sabre, I need you to understand," she started.

Sabre stopped her. He already knew where this was going. The proud look in his stance stooped a little as the truth hit him.

"How and when?" he asked.

"Years ago, A-" she stopped herself.

"Well?"

"Washington killed her," she said, her gaze down.

Sabre's hand twitched.

"What?" he said calmly.

"Wash killed South years ago. It was during a time when Maine was going crazy and killing Freelancer agents and taking their AIs. Wash and his team were trying to stop him, but she got in the way. She was too injured to take with so Wash…"

"So he killed her like a lame animal? Like a dog that couldn't walk anymore?" Sabre said angrily.

Carolina stood back a bit. She had seen when Sabre gets angry, and it's scary.

"Sabre, calm down. You know the protocol," Carolina said.

Sabre just grabbed her by the throat and raised her up. The medic raced to her desk. The same words rang in Sabre's head; "You know the protocol."

"I know the protocol alright, but the protocol is fucked up. That's why you destroyed Project Freelancer, right? Right, Carolina?!" he yelled.

Carolina pulled at his arm, but his grip was too strong. Her vision began to go fuzzy. Sabre gripped her harder, then he let her go. He had been stabbed by something small and hollow. He looked down his left leg and saw that the medic had stabbed him with a syringe of anesthetic. His vision got fuzzy and his legs got heavy. He tried to hit the medic, but when he swung, he spun around and fell. His vision went black quickly; the last thing he saw was South leaning down on him.

 _South…_ he thought.

Back in the Chorus Army Headquarters, General Donald Doyle, Vanessa Kimball, Carolina, Eta, Iota, Church/Epsilon, and the Blood Gulch Crew were all debating what to do with Sabre.

"He's mentally unstable, which makes him dangerous and vulnerable to manipulation," Vanessa argued.

"Yes, but I've seen him in battle. He can be an asset," Carolina said.

General Doyle, Sarge, Simmons, and Doc were on Vanessa's side. Epsilon, Eta, Iota, and Caboose were indecisive. Washington, Tucker, Grif, Donut, and Lopez supported Carolina.

"Kimball, he's just found out that his girlfriend has died at the hands of his best friend. How would you feel if you woke up to that?" Carolina said.

Kimball was silent, but then Doyle stepped in.

"That may be, but if we are to win this war, we need soldiers that will not be distracted by emotions," he said.

Epsilon could see that this was also a shot at Kimball because most of her soldiers were raw recruits. The debating and arguing heated up and a fistfight was ready to commence. Then Caboose stepped up.

"Um, I have been talking with Church and I've been wondering if I could talk to this person," he said softly.

Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Caboose, did you say something?" Tucker asked.

"Um, I was just wondering if I could talk to the person. I have had problems with losing someone important to me, so perhaps I can- Church what was the word?" Caboose said.

"Connect? Correspond?" Epsilon suggested.

"yeah, connectaspond with him," Caboose said.

Everyone looked at each other.

A few minutes later, Caboose and Sabre were alone in the infirmary. Caboose was unarmed, but had Epsilon in his helmet.

"Um, hello Sabre. My name is Michael J. Caboose, but most people call me Caboose," Caboose said.

Sabre looked up at Caboose.

"Well, I prefer to call people by their first names or code-names," Sabre said flatly.

"Well, I hear from Carolina that you have lost someone you loved," Caboose continued.

Sabre was silent for a moment.

"Carolina sent you to try and cheer me up, didn't she?" he asked.

 _"Wow, he's good. Don't bother denying it,"_ Epsilon said in Caboose's head.

"Yeah, she did. I hope it is working," Caboose said.

Sabre thought about his options.

"Yeah, I've lost someone. I've lost many people I've loved. The only one I haven't lost is Carolina," he said.

This took Epsilon and Caboose by surprise.

"Wait, you like Carolina?" Caboose said, "But isn't she really mean?"

"She wasn't when Project Freelancer was still around. She was just competitive with Texas," Sabre said.

Hours later, Sabre and Caboose came out of the infirmary. Kimball, Carolina, and Washington were standing outside, waiting for the results.

"You have my support," Sabre said.

Washington and Carolina released their pent up breaths and Kimball nodded. Sabre turned to Caboose and held out his hand.

"Thanks Michael, you've really helped me," he said.

 _"Ok Caboose, shake his hand and say-"_ Epsilon said.

"You are very welcome Sabre and I hope we get to talk again," Caboose said enthusiastically.

 _"Ok, you could say that too,"_ Epsilon said.

Sabre nodded and went to Carolina.

"Alright chief, where am I needed?" Sabre said.

Carolina nodded and led him down to the training area. Kimball, Washington, Caboose, and Church looked at them.

"So, what did he say?" Kimball asked.

Epsilon appeared in his Church hologram.

"You are not going to believe it…" Epsilon said.

Sabre looked at the line of trainees under his command. They were rookies, but they had enough experience to get Sabre started. There were seven of them, all ready for action.

"Alright, my name is Sabre and you will call me Sabre. Not "sir," am I understood?" he said.

"Yes Sir!" the trainees said.

Sabre closed his eyes and pretended that never happened.

"Alright, we are a team. We have to work as a team. If you have a problem, you bring it to my attention, are we clear?"

"Crystal," they said.

Sabre nodded, they were already learning.

"Now, I have to learn each of your names, starting with you," Sabre said, pointing at the trainee furthest to his right.

"Private Forge, reporting for duty," the trainee said.

"Private Ulysses, reporting for duty," the next one said.

All down that line was Forge, Ulysses, Gregory, Anderson, Winchester, Nathan, and Candide. Forge, Ulysses, and Anderson were sisters, Winchester is a dad, Nathan is an uncle, and Candide is a brother. Forge, Ulysses, and Anderson were the last of their family. The rest had been killed during the staged civil war.

"Alright, I want fifty push-ups, right now!" Sabre yelled.

He went down with the trainees and they all did fifty push-ups. Sabre jumped up.

"Alright, now make a straight line and keep up," Sabre ordered.

He led them on a three lap jog around the base. When they were done, he could see Forge, Anderson, and Nathan were tired. He smiled.

 _This is just the beginning,_ he thought.

Meanwhile, in the command center, Carolina was thinking about all the memories she had with Sabre. His last official mission with her was the defense of the powerstation in Zanzibar. She had a few flashbacks from that mission: the Insurrectionist tank, the team surrounded, Sabre missing an arm, him walking after South. She shook her head.

 _Why now? What led us to see each other again?_ she had a lot of questions.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Kimball's voice came from behind.

"Why do you ask?" Carolina glanced back at her.

"You seem uneasy around him,"

Carolina found herself chuckling.

"It's just nice to see a teammate who's not trying to kill me after all these years," Carolina said.

"So, I ask again, can we trust him?" Kimball asked.

Carolina looked back at her time with Sabre. He was a bit rash, perhaps hot-headed, and he tends to run his mouth a lot. However, he has the skills of a great agent that rival even herself. Then she remembered what happened when she brought Sabre up to speed on what had happened.

"Yes, we can trust him," Carolina said, looking at Kimball directly.

Kimball nodded and left the room, content with Carolina's answer and chuckling at the information she didn't know.

Anderson flew into the wall of the command center and slid down.

"Ow…" she said.

Forge landed on top of her and they looked at Sabre. He blocked a punch from Winchester and kicked Ulysses away. Nathan tried to kick Sabre, but Sabre grabbed his leg and flipped him. Sabre ducked under another punch from Winchester and flipped him over his back. Sabre looked around and smiled. He had successfully defeated his recruits in a hand-to-hand combat training...again. They all groaned in pain, but got up and stood in formation.

"You guys are tough, but I still win. Who wants to go again?" Sabre asked.

No one said anything.

"Alright, march to-" Sabre started,

{Sabre, I need to talk to you. Come to the Command Center} Carolina radioed.

"Alright, march to the shooting range and don't do anything until I get there," Sabre ordered.

The recruits marched off and Sabre went the Command Center.

He walked in and saw Carolina looking out the window. He closed the door without a sound and walked quietly to Carolina, despite his armor.

"Don't bother, my proximity radar can see you," Carolina said with a smile.

Sabre chuckled and walked up to Carolina.

"You needed to talk to me chief?" Sabre asked.

"What happened to you? After Harvest, I thought you were dead," Carolina said.

Sabre looked back at what happened to him at Harvest.

"After the building exploded, I was thrown back and knocked unconscious. South and I were separated and we never saw each other again. I still had Eta in my helmet. I was apparently deemed dead because a group of ODSTs found us and the crew of the _UNSC Weston_ threw us in a cryochamber. The ships logs that Eta stole said we were frozen for a few years. However, Insurrectionists blew up that ship and we were rescued by the crew of the _UNSC Luna_. Then that ship was destroyed by the Insurrection. I never got the name of the last ship we were on. Then we were attacked by a rogue marine while being attacked by an Insurrectionist cruiser. As the bridge exploded, we managed to activate the slipspace drive and get away. We ended up over Chorus and were sucked by the vacuum of space. I used a piece of metal to protect me and I came here," Sabre explained.

Carolina processed the information and looked into Sabre's visor. She never thought Sabre had gone through so much.

"I haven't gone through a lot Carolina. If anything, Eta has gone through too much. I think she is on the verge of rampancy," Sabre joked.

Carolina wasn't convinced and tried to see what was going on in Sabre's mind. She took hold of Sabre's helmet and took it off. Sabre's matted, black hair fell out as it came off. It revealed his hard, battle-scarred face. Carolina and Sabre looked at each other and Carolina could see pain and sorrow in his eyes.

"Sabre, tell me," Carolina begged.

Sabre shook his head and stood, taking his helmet back.

"I got to get back to my recruits," he said coldly.

He put his helmet back on and went out the door. Carolina smacked her forehead for letting her emotions get in the way. It hurt more because of her armored glove.

"I'm an idiot," she said, a tear falling down her cheek.

Sabre, Carolina, the Blood Gulch Crew, General Doyle, and Dr. Grey were all in a meeting. They were to discuss a battle plan for a mission against Charon. Sabre was in the corner, watching from afar, still on the edge about the reunion with Carolina in the Command Center several days ago.

"I say we take the bulk of our forces to meet them head on, while select groups of fireteams attack from all sides," said General Doyle.

Kimball nodded and looked around at the group. No one said anything.

"Alright, then that's what we're going to do," she said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Let's think about this first," started Epsilon, "We are up against mercenaries from the company that supplies the UNSC. Ok? So, they have a point for supplies. They also have a point for manpower, firepower, and training. What do we have?" Epsilon asked.

He had a point: the bulk of the Chorus Army were raw recruits who have had only a few week of training.

"Each other," someone said.

Everyone looked around, searching for the source of the voice.

"We have each other. We will fight for each other and die by each other's side," came the voice again.

"Caboose?" Epsilon asked.

Caboose came in with a tall, proud stride. His armor was shiny and navy blue. His assault rifle, with Freckle's AI attached, was on his back and there was a pistol at his holster.

"Caboose, do you know who said that?" Simmons asked.

"It was me," Caboose said.

Everyone looked at him, except for Sabre, awed. Caboose has never wanted to go into battle. In fact, several of the Blue Team thought he was going to be a pacifist, like Doc. To hear him talking about dying and camaraderie was surprising.

"Caboose, you've never wanted to fight, just like me," said Grif.

"Look, I may not be that bright or fierce. I'm not exactly a _soldier_ like the rest of you guys," he said, "I've seen what a major war has done to families. I don't want that to happen here, to the people of Chorus."

Everyone nodded and clapped him on the back, proud of Caboose. Caboose gave Sabre a quick nod, which he returned. After that little pick-me-up, everyone went back to the plan.

"Ok, we'll hold them of here," Vanessa pointed out, "Here at this pass. I can hide snipers in the trees while we have a main force at the bottom."

"Are you insane?" Sabre asked.

Everyone looked at him.

"Something wrong?" Vanessa asked.

"Uh, yeah. If you put any amount of soldiers at the bottom of the pass, they are going to be slaughtered," he said.

He walked up and pointed out several details.

"There's a little path that goes around the pass. Enemy reinforcements could flank us. Charon's forces are going to be better-equipped and better trained. The soldier's down there won't stand a chance. Also, what makes you think that Malcolm will send troops that way?"

Sabre stood up from leaning on the table and crossed his arms. Vanessa thought about the problems that Sabre pointed out.

"Ok, what do you suggest then?" Grif asked.

Sabre thought about it. He knew that Charon will not be easily taken care of.

"We'll take out their outposts. Radar jammers, weapon depots, research labs, anything that is Charon must be destroyed or captured," he said.

Everyone thought about it for a while.

"I suppose you're right Sabre. We need to make this war as easy as possible," Vanessa said.

Everyone, except for Grif, agreed with the plan. The meeting was adjourned and broken for lunch. Sabre left for the barracks, where he told his squad to wait. Carolina ran after him.

"Sabre," she said.

Sabre stopped and looked behind him.

"Need something chief?" he said.

He started walking again.

"No, I was just saying that those were good points you made back there," she said.

"Thanks. You taught me all about tactics. This war is not going to be easy to fight," Sabre said, "These people are outgunned and outmatched. However I've seen their potential. I think Charon will be surprised."

Carolina nodded, having a bit of trouble keeping up with Sabre.

"Listen, about that incident in the Command Center…" she started.

"Don't bother," Sabre said.

Carolina looked up and realized that Sabre had stopped and was looking at her.

"It's ok," he said.

He nodded and gripped her shoulders.

"You are the strongest, toughest soldier out here. Never, ever think that just because emotions are thrown into the mix that you are weak. Promise me that," he said.

She nodded, surprised about his quick acceptance. He was known to be tough against emotions. He let her go and left for the barracks, intent on training his squad.

"Come on, twenty more," Sabre said.

Sabre and his squad were doing upside-down push-ups. So far, they had done a hundred. All the squad members were breathing hard and their arms were quivering.

"110, 111, 112, 113…" Sabre counted.

Eventually, they reached one hundred twenty and stood up. Though no one could see it, everyone was red faced as the blood rushed back to the rest of their body. Forge sat down on the floor once they were done and was breathing hard.

"Feel good everyone? Ready for a run?" Sabre said with a smile.

The squad groaned and complained.

"I'm just kidding. Who's hungry?" he asked.

Everyone raised their hands, which hurt like hell.

"Alright, get some lunch and get some rest," Sabre ordered.

The squad filed out of the barracks with Sabre in the back. Then an aid to General Doyle came up to him.

"Deployment orders sir," he said.

"Thank you Corporal," Sabre said.

Sabre read the orders.

 **Orders from Generals Vanessa Kimball & Donald Doyle**

 **Effective Immediately**

 **Fireteam Sabre will take a Charon outpost near Sector 9**

Sabre smiled at the would-be military stature of this army.

 _They try,_ he thought.

Sabre walked to the cafeteria, where his squad were eating and laughing, and joined them. After ten minutes, Sabre gathered them into the barracks.

"Forge you'll be the team sniper. Ulysses and Gregory, you'll be the heavies. The rest of you, load up. I want assault rifles and plenty of ammo," Sabre said.

The team loaded up and went to the vehicle depot.

"Alright, mount up," Sabre ordered.

Sabre's team took two warthogs and a mongoose and drove off to the north. While he was eating in the cafeteria, Eta had downloaded the most current map of Chorus. She displayed it on Sabre's HUD and plotted a route to where the the Charon outpost was.

"Turn left," he told Forge as she drived.

The convoy swerved left and continued for several miles. Sabre made sure his rifle as loaded and looked to the distance. He saw the floating forerunner tower on the horizon, levitating in peace.

 _What is up there?_ he thought.

"Sir, we're nearing the target area," Forge said.

Sabre shook out of his daydream and focused. Forge had called him "sir" but he didn't care anymore. There was a narrow path through a rock formation in front of a large clearing.

"Stop," Sabre said.

The convoy stopped and the team looked around. The air was crisp and slightly chilly, not that anyone could feel it. Sabre jumped off and walked to the clearing, rifle in hand. He waved his team off as they tried to follow him.

"Stay in the convoy," he ordered.

He looked around, keeping an eye on his proximity radar.

"See anything Eta?" he asked.

"Nope, it's clear," she said.

"Good," Sabre said.

Sabre put his rifle on his back and grabbed an invisible space pirate by the throat. Sabre picked him up and threw him into a tree. Sabre drew his rifle again and fired in different directions. Five other space pirates fell out of the trees at the force of the bullets. Sabre finished all but one. He kicked the DMR out of the space pirate's hands and squatted down to the pirate's level.

"So, tell me, what's behind this rock here?" he said calmly, pointing to the rock formation in front of them.

"Fuck you," the space pirate spat out.

Sabre shook his head, smiling. He took off his helmet and passed it to Forge. Then he picked up the space pirate by her shoulders and pinned her against a tree. The pirate choked and gagged as Sabre pressed against her throat with his gauntlet. The team just watched as Sabre interrogated the pirate.

"Tell me, and I'll make your passing easier," Sabre threatened.

The pirate was choking, so Sabre eased up on her to so she could talk.

"Please...please...don't kill me. I'll tell you, just don't kill me," she cried.

Sabre let the girl go and then gave her a hug.

"There there, shh...it's ok," he said softly.

The team was completely confused, but didn't say anything.

Despite nearly dying at his hands, the pirate was strangely comforted by her interrogator. Her mind was spinning, trying to figure out what happened and several things were lost in the confusion.

"Now, tell me what's behind the rock," Sabre asked again.

The pirate took off her own helmet, where her mike was.

"There's several snipers in the trees ahead and two pirates with rocket launchers. All are ready to kill you," the pirate said.

Sabre nodded.

"Thank you, now take the mongoose with Candide and head back to our base. Candide will take good care of you," Sabre said.

"Yeah...wait, what?" Candide asked.

Sabre nodded and the pirate went over to Candide.

"Take the pirate back to base and make sure she is taken care of. She's not a prisoner, but a guest," Sabre said.

Candide opened her mouth to say something, but shut it and started to drive off with the pirate. Sabre nodded and had his team mount up again.

"Sir, what's the plan?" Ulysses asked.

Sabre smiled and turned in visible.

"When you hear a lot of shouting, drive through as fast as possible," he said from nowhere.

Sabre walked off while his team got ready. He jumped up the rock and looked ahead. There were several pirates all hidden. Two were in the open, holding the rocket launchers, while the others were snipers in the trees.

 _Well, she wasn't lying,_ Sabre thought.

He jumped down and hid in some high bushes. His cloaking ran out and he waited for it to recharge. Sabre took out three grenades and pulled the pins out. He waited three seconds before throwing each one as far as possible. One grenade landed near a warthog and blew up, tipping the warthog in its side. Another managed to hit a pirate with a rocket launcher, throwing him to the ground. The last blew up harmlessly in the middle of the field. The pirates turned, distracted. Sabre jumped from his hiding spot, pistol in hand, and started picking off the snipers. Each one dropped to the ground with three bullets in their heads. Sabre dove for a sniper rifle and picked off the remaining snipers.

On the other side, Sabre's team was waiting for the signal. Suddenly, three explosions sounded in rapid succession and there were the sounds of shouting and screaming, followed by several gunshots.

"GO! GO! GO!" Nathan yelled.

The two warthogs flew at top speed through the hole in the rock formation. What they saw passed it was a mini version of a battlefield. There were three craters and many space pirate bodies. Sabre held his hand out and grabbed one of the rails on the warthog, settling himself in the passenger seat.

"Can I speak plainly sir?" Forge asked.

"Of course," Sabre said.

"You are the craziest son of a bitch I have ever had the pleasure of working with," Forge said.

The convoy laughed as they passed Sabre's handiwork. They stopped at the mini-outpost to refuel and rearm if needed.

"You think we could use these rocket launchers?" Nathan asked.

Sabre nodded and picked one up himself. The rocket launchers would help them against vehicles. Forge and Ulysses grabbed several more clips of ammo for their rifles. Winchester had several belts of grenades and Anderson was busy trying to hack a computer.

"Eta, give Anderson a hand," Sabre said.

Eta, in holographic form, walked over to Anderson and the two started talking. Sabre smiled.

 _It's almost like Project Freelancer, only not as dramatic,_ Sabre thought.

Iota appeared, pulling up a map.

"Sabre, I downloaded a map of the target outpost. The defenses are strong, we might need reinforcements," Iota said.

Sabre studied the map, figuring out the best approach.

 _I wish I had Delta here…_ Sabre said.

Sabre always like the blunt, logical conversation that Delta gave. Still, the Twins as Sabre calls them, are good to talk to as well.

"We'll talk to Kimball about this," Sabre said.

Anderson managed to hack the computer. Sabre set up a mini communications array so Kimball and Doyle at base could hear.

[Base, this is Sabre. Do you copy?] Sabre asked.

{Sabbbre...base...c-c-copy...hard...h-h-hear.} Kimball's broken voice came.

"Eta, try and clear up the signal," Sabre said.

Eta managed to clear it up a lot, despite the distance between them and Base.

{Sabre, we read you loud and clear now. Status.} Kimball said.

It was Kimball, Doyle, and Agent Washington in the screen.

[Base, we've captured a sort of waypoint between us and the target outpost. It's a simple supply base with nothing special. However, Anderson managed to crack a code here.] Sabre said.

{Alright, go on Anderson} Doyle said.

Anderson was a Federal Trooper before the two sides had a truce. He's been uneasy working with the Rebels, but he always acts like he's only reporting to General Doyle.

[General, this code here is a message from Felix to this base. Apparently they moved a shipment to the target outpost, although it doesn't specify what the shipment is] Anderson said.

{Right, I'll send some reinforcements to hold the outpost} Kimball said.

[Hold that ma'am. We'll take the reinforcements when we take the main objective. This was just a waypoint.] Sabre said, [Also, Iota found this map on our target outpost. The defenses are solid. There are turrets everywhere and there is a possibility of heavy armor.]

Kimball and Doyle talked off screen for a bit. At this point, everyone was nervous. Kimball was as ambitious as she was intelligent. Ambition and intelligence are always a good mix, but in Kimball, someone put the wrong quantities in her. Kimball came back while Doyle left the room.

{Doyle is collecting your reinforcements now. Do not engage the target outpost until they arrive.} Kimball stressed.

[Yes ma'am. Sabre out] Sabre said.

Kimball nodded and the screen turned off. Sabre had Anderson mess with the computer for a while. Sabre went outside and looked around. His team was taking the full advantage of the small break they were getting. Sabre talked to Iota about an assault plan.

"If the enemy is smart, they'll have patrols all around the outpost. If they are paranoid, they'll have every pirate armed to the teeth and put on high alert before we even get there," Sabre said.

"And if they are both?" Iota asked.

"Then we're gonna be fucked up by the time this is over," Sabre joked.

Eta left Anderson with the computer and went back to Sabre.

"Sabre, we may have a problem," Eta said.

"What's up?" Sabre asked.

"The leader of the target outpost is sending a team here. Apparently the shipment that this outpost sent was wrong," Eta said.

Sabre thought about it.

"I think we can take the outpost without reinforcements," Sabre said.

Sabre had is team paint their armor in the space pirate colors. They went through the inventory and found the right shipment. They loaded on the warthog and got ready for the pickup team. A team of nine space pirates came up from the south. They came up in three warthogs, two with machine gun turrets and one with a gauss turret. The leader jumped out.

"What the hell people? I gave you one job and that was to bring the shipment of weapons to my outpost," the leader said.

Sabre walked up to the leader. He looked familiar, but Sabre couldn't remember.

"Sorry sir. I put a few people in charge of it, but they marked it incorrectly," Sabre said.

"Who are you? I've never seen you here," the leader said.

"I've been working directly under your partner. He sent me to ensure that no mistakes were made in this delivery," Sabre said, hoping to get some info.

"If you worked directly under Locus and he sent you on an escort detail, you must have fucked up badly," the leader said, "Anyway, let me talk to the idiots that sent the wrong shipment," the leader said.

Sabre looked back at his disguised team.

"That might be a bit...difficult," Sabre said.

Sabre reloaded his pistol for effect. The leader nodded, he seemed pleased with Sabre's supposed course of action.

"Good job soldier. I hope the rest saw it," the leader said.

"No, but they sure heard the screaming," Sabre said with evil enthusiasm.

The leader nodded.

"Ok, where's the correct shipment?" the leader said.

Sabre led the leader to the warthog that held the shipment. Sabre managed to get a glance at the leader's name that was laser etched on his chestplate: Felix. Sabre knew the leader looked familiar, but he didn't say anything.

"Ok, mount up. Pack everything up. We're liquidizing the depot," Felix ordered.

Sabre and his team packed all the supplies in the base to the warthogs. Felix led the new convoy to the outpost. The pass through a heavily guarded gate with at least four snipers. Sabre studied the defenses. He looked at his team and they all understood. This wasn't an outpost: this is the Space Pirate Headquarters.

* * *

 **MUAHAHAHA! Cliffhangers are great...**

 **Anyway, that is part 1 of the second story. I hope ya'll liked it. Don't be afraid to comment, suggest, etc.**

 **-Angel**


	3. One Chance

**Hey guys, girls, and others. Here is part 2 of Story 2 of Red vs. Blue: Sabre. Sabre is in the Space Pirate HQ. What will happen? Who will die? Will anyone die? Why am I asking all these questions? We'll find out all the answers...except the answer to the last question.**

 **-Angel**

* * *

Kimball, Carolina, Doyle, and the Blood Gulch Crew all stood around a map of Chorus. It has been several hours since Sabre had last radioed about his mission. Everyone was getting worried, especially Carolina. Kimball tried to radio Sabre several times, but he may have turned off his radio. Epsilon and Carolina have tried to locate him through Eta and Iota, but they've had no luck either. Another hour of silence passed before Kimball spoke up.

"Perhaps we should send a team to search for him?" she asked.

"I..." Doyle started, "I...don't know. Will we have the resources?"

The subject was touchy. Sabre had gotten along with everyone pretty well, despite him being fairly antisocial. Carolina and Sabre had stopped talking since she'd apologized to him. No one wanted to stay on the topic, but they needed to hear his voice. Everyone started to walk away from each other when the long-range communications array picked up a transmission. Epsilon jumped into the array and sent the transmission to the main base. Sabre's helmet crackled on screen. He was in a dark place, possibly a cargo area.

[Base, this is Sabre. Over.]

He was whispering. Kimball smashed a button on the console.

{This is Kimball. We're glad to hear from you Sabre.}

[Thanks Base. Boy, do I have news for you. My team and I have successfully infiltrated the target outpost.]

{Good, we're sending reinforce-}

[Except it's not an outpost. It's the Space Pirate's HQ.]

Silence dropped on the room.

"What?" Epsilon asked.

{Repeat your last Sabre.} Carolina said.

[I repeat, this is the Space Pirate HQ. I've seen the defenses and leader. He's a mercenary named Felix.]

Everyone was shocked. How did they mistake the Pirate HQ for a simple outpost? Also, how did Sabre and his team infiltrate it without being discovered? Kimball and Doyle broke away from everyone to discuss a plan. Carolina took over and sat a seat by the console.

{Sabre. This is Carolina. Where are you exactly?}

[I'm in the lower cargo area. They've unloaded a shipment of alien weaponry, possibly Project Freelancer gear.]

"Project Freelancer. They always seem to come back in haunt us, don't they?" Epsilon asked.

Carolina nodded and turned back to Sabre.

{Ok, send your coordinates to us. We'll get you guys out of there} Carolina said.

[Negative Chief. I'm gonna see what they're hiding here.] Sabre said, [Keep the comms open and be ready to receive regular updates.]

{How long are you willing to keep up this recon?}

[A few hours to a day at least.]

Sabre's helmet unfolded, revealing his smiling face.

[Don't worry Chief. I'll before dawn.]

His helmet folded back and the screen turned to static. Carolina just stared at the static until she turned off the screen. Kimball and Doyle came back and asked where Sabre was.

"He's going to recon the base and see what they have. I wouldn't send any troops until he recon reports come in," Carolina said.

...

Sabre turned off his radio and looked behind the corner. There was nobody around, so he got out of his hiding spot. Eta appeared on Sabre's shoulder, swinging her legs.

"You sure you know what you're doin'? This seems super risky," she voiced her concern.

"We'll be fine," Sabre reassured her.

Eta nodded and disappeared again. Sabre walked to the living quarters where his team was resting. Forge, Ulysses, and Gregory were asleep already. Nathan and Winchester were talking. Anderson was reading something. Sabre walked up to his team and sat down on a bunk.

"Alright guys. Here's the plan. We need information on this base. Anderson is our techie, so he and Eta will hack into the base records. The rest of us will have our helmet cameras on and record what we do from now 'til dawn tomorrow. They will be on at all times, even if we're not doing anything important. Understood?" Sabre explained.

"Yes sir," said the team.

So, Eta stayed with Anderson while they hacked the base archives. Everyone turned on their helmet cameras and helped the Space Pirates operate their base. Sabre was in the vehicle depot, taking x-ray scans of the vehicles thanks to Iota. Candide and Nathan checked out the armory, documenting the number of weapons the Pirates had. Winchester and Ulysses talked with several of the Pirates, who were actually pretty friendly. Gregory talked with the scientists as they investigated the alien weapons, while taking x-ray scans of each type of weapon. During the entire time, Sabre updated Kimball and Doyle every hour. They seemed impressed with Sabre's espionage skills. Sabre was flattered, no one has ever complimented his thievery before. Sabre's team all documented roughly fifteen hours of data.

Anderson managed to get through three layers of firewall in the archives and Eta stole all of records that they contained. Sabre went to Anderson so Eta could have a stronger signal while the rest of the team stayed in the living quarters. Sabre helped Anderson hack, but the fourth level of firewall was too strong. Iota helped smash through it and Eta stole the info there. Anderson left Sabre, but Sabre saw something he hadn't seen since basic training. It was what Project Freelancer called an Enigma Sequence. It was a curious piece of code that repeated each part of the sequence in an ever changing order. This type of security was supposed to be theoretical.

 _Of course, they though the metastability state of AI was theoretical for fragments_ , he thought.

Sabre had Iota and Eta chase after several pieces of code while he worked the rest of it.

{Sabre, this is Forge. We're all accounted for, where are you?} Forge's voice hissed in Sabre's ear.

[Still in the archives. There's an interesting safe that I'd like to try and crack] Sabre said, still focused.

{Well, hurry up. Dawn is here in two hours. We need to be long gone by then} Forge hissed.

[Rog', see you then] Sabre said.

Sabre turned off his radio and focused. There was something strange about this Enigma Sequence. It seemed...sentient. It was so slippery. It seemed to bypass all of Sabre's attempts to hack it, and it was...laughing? Sabre narrowed his eyes, his visor working furiously to help Sabre crack the sequence. He managed and the lock opened. Sabre was not expecting the loot.

"No...fucking...way," Sabre said.

...

Sabre's team waited impatiently for their leader. They had one hour to get out of the base. Forge looked down the hall. She saw Sabre walk up. She whistled to the team and they all started to leave. They all had weapons under the bunks and armed everyone. Sabre led them through the base to the outside. Sabre and his team looked at the front gate. There were no guards, but there were snipers in the towers. Sabre went back to the base and had his team stay.

"Give me two minutes," he said.

Sabre soon came back with some forged orders. Sabre led his group through the front gate. He held up his orders to the snipers, who let him go.

"No vehicles?" one of the snipers asked.

"Nah, I always think that a foot patrol is the best," Sabre said.

Sabre led his group out the gate and to a hill that could shield them from the sniper's eyes. As soon as Eta gave them the all clear, the team ran in the direction of Kimball's base. Sabre the loot he got from the Enigma Sequence hidden from his team. This was a copy Freelancer tech and he needed to take it to Epsilon and Carolina.

Felix and Locus watched as Sabre's team left.

"Sir, permission to fire?" one of the snipers at the top of the Command Center asked.

"No, let them revel in victory. It will be their last," Locus said.

"You watched way too many movies as a kid," Felix said.

"Are they in position?" Locus asked.

"Yes sir," the sniper said.

"Good," Felix said.

"Are you sure it is him?" Locus asked.

Felix fell silent. He hadn't seen Sabre in a long time. It was like the ghosts of his past had come back to haunt him.

"Yes, I'm sure. He's the only person to break my Enigma Sequence," Felix confirmed.

Locus growled.

...

"Welcome back sir!" yelled a recruit.

Sabre and his team trudged into the Chorus Army base several hours after dawn. They were all tired, despite all the physical conditioning that Sabre has had them do. Sabre let his team go to bed, or eat, or whatever they wanted to do. He collected all the video that the team filmed and took it to the Command Center. He took the elevator up and straightened himself up. The door opened and he crossed the break room. He saw several soldiers inside. Sabre looked around and walked in for a quick cup of coffee. The soldiers cheered and clapped Sabre on the back at a job well done. Sabre only talked to them for as long as two cups of coffee. Then he reported to Kimball and Doyle.

The room was just as Sabre left it: the massive computers on the walls, people working hard, and Kimball and Doyle arguing. Sabre walked up behind the two bickering generals and cleared his throat. Kimball and Doyle stopped arguing and turned to face Sabre.

"Sir, ma'am, my recon mission is complete," Sabre said.

Kimball and Doyle immediately forgot their argument and focused on Sabre's debriefing. Sabre spent several hours with the generals, showing them everything Sabre and his team had recorded. At the end, Doyle and Kimball thanked Sabre for the information and dismissed him. Sabre took Eta and left for the barracks. Sabre needed sleep, but he also needed to show Carolina and Washington what he found.

"Eta, how is he?" Sabre asked.

"He's still asleep," Eta said, checking on the other A.I. in his helmet.

Sabre continued through the base, passing several of the Blood Gulch Crew. He passed the team of the Blood Gulch Crew: Palomo, Jensen, Smith, and Bitters. Sabre pushed through a few soldiers who where talking, catching a bit of their conversation.

"I heard we're going on a big offensive soon."

"Why would we? We're not ready."

Sabre kept going, reaching the barracks and opening the door. He walked right up to Carolina's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Chief, you in there?" Sabre asked.

"Yes. Come on in," Carolina's voice came from the door.

Sabre opened the door and stood in the door way. Carolina sat on her bunk, looking at the inside of her helmet. Her bright red hair covered most of her face, but Sabre could see that she had been crying. She stood and held her helmet under her arm.

"What's up Sabre?" she asked.

"Where's Wash? I need to talk to you both," Sabre said.

Sabre led Carolina to Washington's quarters and collected him as well. Sabre brought both of them to a secret tunnel in the caves that Sabre had found the first day he joined. He made sure they weren't followed.

"What's wrong Sabre? Why the secrecy?" Carolina asked.

Sabre had Eta bring out the A.I. that he found in the Pirate HQ.

"I found him on my recon mission at the Pirate HQ. He was protected by an elusive Enigma Sequence," Sabre explained.

"I can't believe it. He's still alive," Washington said.

"Do you think...?" Carolina started.

"No, Maine's dead. I saw him fall off that cliff. Even he couldn't have survived that," Washington said quickly.

"Well, at least he's safe. I think he needs repairs, but I'm not too sure," Sabre said.

Washington nodded, looking at the sleeping hologram of the A.I. Sigma.

...

Sabre sat on the roof of Command Center, looking over the base. It looked peaceful enough for a military base. Sabre's helmet unfolded and he finally felt the cool cave breeze for the first time in several hours. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking about life before Chorus, before Project Freelancer. His memory seemed to buzz, like an early T.V. His memory didn't go back that far, Sabre didn't even know if he had a life before Project Freelancer. Sabre laid down, deciding to take a nap right there.

"Sorry to keep you from sleeping Sabre, but I have a question," Eta said.

Sabre sat back up and looked at Eta's floating hologram.

"What's up?" Sabre asked.

"Was it a good idea to free Sigma? From how Agents Washington and Carolina were acting, Sigma made them uneasy," Eta said.

Sabre thought about it. Carolina had told Sabre about Maine's rampage with Sigma. Sabre has had some first-hand experience with Sigma himself before. Sigma was a cunning and manipulative A.I. Still, Sabre had built a good relationship with most of the A.I. of Project Freelancer, with the exception of Beta, Alpha, and Gamma. He was one of those people that everyone can go to if they had something to get off their chest.

"Yeah, I think it was a good idea. Just because his past was bad doesn't mean that his future will be the same," Sabre explained.

Eta nodded, taking in Sabre's response.

"Ok, I'll leave you alone now," Eta said.

Sabre nodded, laying back again. He closed his eyes and napped on the roof. He dreamed of a few days from now, when the Chorus Army was going to risk it all for one major offensive.

...

"Alright, listen up," Sabre said.

Sabre and his team were standing in the barracks among hundreds of Chorus soldiers. Kimball, Sabre, Doyle, and the Reds stood on a stage while the A.I.s pulled up a map of Crash Site Alpha.

"We have the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to turn the tides and land a big hit on Charon," Sabre started, "Crash Site Alpha is the battlefield. We are going to launch an offensive against it. No doubt there will be hundreds of Pirates there to defend it. We are probably going to be outnumbered."

None of the soldiers looked amused.

"I will tell you this though: We _will_ win. We will win because we fight not for profit, but for everyone's survival," Sabre said, "General Kimball will give you the assault plan."

Sabre backed up while Kimball stepped forward.

"Good morning everyone. Crash Site Alpha is where the Pirate Head Quarters is located. Due to the brave recon of Sabre and his team, we have solid intel about their strength. It is true, we are outnumbered and outgunned, but with this information, we have a chance at dealing a decisive blow against Charon," Kimball said.

The soldiers began to murmur amongst themselves about their odds.

"The assault will be executed in two phases. Phase One is an armored attack on the forward gate. They will clear it of snipers and enemy armor. They are to clear the way for Phase Two."

The projection showed a simulation of Phase One. One tank and all the rocket warthogs were storming the front gate of the Pirate HQ.

"Phase Two is our main forces. They will consist of our infantry and turret warthogs. The main goal is to eliminate all hostiles and secure the base. Phase One will be led by the Reds in our only tank," Kimball said, facing the Reds.

Sarge nodded at the troops. Grif was sitting on the floor, giving everyone a "what's up?" nod. Simmons pulled the bolt back on his assault rifle, trying to look confident. All the attention turned back to Kimball. The projection showed Phase Two.

"Phase Two will be led my myself. General Doyle will stay here in Armonia with a small defense force. Orders have already been sent to each regiment's commanding officer. General Doyle will give a debriefing to all the regiments defending Armonia. Good luck to us all," Kimball adjourned the briefing there.

Sabre picked a loadout accordingly, choosing an assault rifle, a DMR, and two pistols. His team was loading up as well. Forge had her sniper rifle and a pistol. Ulysses had shotgun and an assault rifle. Nathan grabbed a grenade launcher and several frag grenades. Candide had a DMR and pistol. Winchester took a battle rifle and a DMR as well. Gregory and Anderson took SAWs and shotguns. Gregory and Anderson were going to be in the tank leading Phase One. Sabre looked at his team. He was already seeing faces disappearing, like he knew who was going to die. He shook his head. He had a mission to complete...a special mission from Kimball.

 _10 minutes ago..._

Kimball walked into the War Room. Sabre turned to face her, then faced Eta, Iota, and Sigma.

"General..." Sabre said.

The A.I.s nodded at the general. Kimball nodded at all four of them and leaned on the projection table.

"I have an important mission for you. This is completely classified and must be done alone," Kimball said.

Sabre nodded. He's had his fair share of covert operations in Project Freelancer, although he usually had Tex or Wyoming with him. Kimball closed and locked the War Room doors, making sure no one heard.

...

"Move out dirtbags, we've got a war to win!' Sarge said enthusiastically.

Sarge drove the tank and Grif had the turret. Simmons sat on the side with a rocket launcher and a battle rifle. The two Reds looked at each other, worried. The Chorus Army marched forward towards what they hoped would be a quick end to the war. Sabre watched from in front, standing on a hill. He nodded, knowing it was time to move. Sabre popped his neck out of annoyance. Before he left for the his special mission, Sabre was given a special helmet that could hold three A.I.s. Carolina had left it for him for special emergencies. Having three voices in your head was a bit annoying. Eta, Iota, and Sigma were all sitting comfortably in Sabre's empty helmet, chatting to each other and trying to catch up on each other's life. Sabre picked up his sniper rifle and put it on his back.

"Alright guys, time to focus. Mission is a go," Sabre said.

Sabre holstered his pistols, sheathed his knife, and grabbed his assault rifle. He started walking towards the Pirate HQ, reviewing his mission objectives. He jumped across a deep crack in the earth, a miniature canyon, and climbed a tree. The Pirate HQ was three hundred yards in front of him. The air was heavy with fog and suspense. This was the time that Chorus either wins their freedom or will die trying. Sabre bent the tree back until it nearly touched the ground. Sabre stood on the end and activated his active camo. The tree launched him through the air and over the walls of the Pirate HQ. He activated his grav-boots and tilted his trajectory. He landed hard on a wall and waited for the sound to die down. There was no alarms, but pirates were looking around. Sabre walked to a window and scanned the room. Felix and Locus were standing in a large conference room, watching the window. Sabre waited several long minutes. Felix and Locus went back to their meeting.

"Iota, adjust gravity so I can stick to the windows without breaking them," Sabre whispered.

Iota adjusted the gravity and Sabre took a cautious step on the window. He stuck and the window didn't crack. Sabre walked to the middle of the windows and waited for Phase One to commence.

Sarge rolled over a hill and stopped.

"Sarge, why are we stopping?" Grif asked.

"We need to give the enemy a chance to surrender before they are horribly defeated by our superior numbers," Sarge said.

"But sir, the are our mortal enemies. Why are we giving them a chance?" Simmons asked.

"Simmons, a true warrior does not kill at random. Even during the chaos of war, there must be some civility, some manners," Sarge said.

There was a short pause.

"Sarge, that would have been the most inspirational thing you have ever said if it made any sense," Grif commented.

"Ah shut up," Sarge said.

Sarge activated his loudspeaker. The pirates winced at the feedback before Sarge's gruff voice crackled to life.

"Attention pirate scumbags, this is your one and only chance to surrender!" Sarge yelled.

The pirates looked at each other. One tank? Is that all the Chorus Army was going to throw at them? The rest of Phase One came up beside Sarge's tank. The pirates took a step back, some falling off the wall they were guarding.

"Do you accept?" Sarge asked.

In the Command Center, Felix and Locus walk to the window to figure out what was going on.

"Lieutenant, what the hell is going on?" Felix demanded.

"It's the Chorus Army sir, the're attacking. They offer us surrender," the sniper next to Felix said.

Felix looked at Locus and laughed out loud. He laughed for several minutes straight before standing back up. Sabre looked at the tank,

 _Offering surrender...noble, but misguided,_ he thought.

"Eta control the tank and blow open the gate," Sabre whispered.

Eta controlled the tank and destroyed the gate. Pirates flew from its ramparts and Phase One surged forward.

"Well, I guess they said no," Grif said.

Sarge, who was thoroughly confused, just drove the tank forward.

"For our ancestors, attack!" Sarge yelled.

Simmons jumped off the tank and charged with his rocket launcher.

...

Sabre, seeing Phase One commence, jumped on the window. He broke the glass flew in. He landed on the sniper next to Felix and shot him with a pistol. Sabre deactivated his grav-boots and aimed both pistols at Felix and Locus.

"Well, well, well..." Felix started, "Long time no see Sabre."

"Likewise, how have you been?" Sabre asked.

"Well, you know, starting wars, killing people, getting paid with awesome shit...same ol', same ol'," Felix said.

Sabre nodded, keeping his pistols up. Locus stood where he was, hand to his thigh.

"You wanna see how fast my reflexes are?" Sabre threatened, nodding his head at Locus, "Try me."

Locus glared at Sabre and pulled his hand back from his pistol. Sabre nodded and shot Locus in the head. Locus dropped to the ground. Felix looked at Locus's dead body and then at Sabre. His face had a look of surprise.

"So what? Now you're a hitman?" Felix asked.

Sabre thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah...something like that," Sabre said.

Sabre shot at Felix. Felix dodged and ran out the conference room door. Sabre gave chase, but was stopped by a heavily armored pirate. Sabre shot at the pirate and the pirate retaliated by shooting his flamethrower. Sabre back flipped away from the flames and out the broken window. Sabre landed on a pirate who was about to be killed by Sarge.

"Dang namit Sabre...you couldn't have waited just a second longer before taking my kill?" Sarge said.

"Any second longer and I would have been toast," Sabre said.

Sabre ran towards the battlefield, assault rifle raised. He killed a few pirates before reaching Kimball. She grabbed a pirate and stabbed him under his chin, twisting the knife before removing it. She wiped the blade on the pirate's body and resheathed it. She looked up at Sabre.

"Sabre...good. We could use as many guns as possible," Kimball said.

"Felix got away ma'am, but I managed to kill Locus," Sabre said.

"Unfortunate, but understandable," Kimball said.

Sabre nodded and pushed with the rest of the attack. The battle was well in and the Pirates were breaking under the pressure. Felix ordered a full retreat. The pirates ran or surrendered where they stood. The Reds took care of the prisoners while Sabre and Kimball led a squad after the retreating pirates. Sabre took out five more pirates with his DMR before Kimball called off the chase. Sabre reloaded. Kimball rejoined the assault force and stood on a box.

"Well done everyone. We've routed the pirates from their HQ," Kimball said.

Everyone cheered. Sabre was unconvinced. Felix was not the one to run from a fight, especially when he was losing. Sabre had the A.I.s scan the base.

"Sabre, get everyone out. The base is rigged!" Eta said.

Kimball was still giving a victory speech when Sabre joined her on the box.

"Evacuate the base. Felix rigged it to explode! He's going to liquidate the base," Sabre warned.

Celebration stopped. Everyone froze for a single moment.

"Sabre, are you sure?" Kimball asked.

Sabre nodded and jumped from the box. Everyone rushed about to get the wounded out first, then everyone else. Transport warthogs ferried wounded away while the Chorus Army rushed to escape.

A mile west, Felix watched the chaos.

"Sir, permission to liquidate the base?" one of the surviving pirates asked.

Felix nodded, holding his arm. A stray bullet had cut through his shields and punctured his arm at the crook of his elbow. The joints always were the weakest. The pirate grabbed a detonator and pressed the red button.

Sabre carried a wounded soldier away from the base when the ground underneath him gave way. Sabre jumped and landed on solid ground. The base began to sink as the explosives went off. Hundreds of soldiers started to sink. People began to panic and run as fast as possible. The Reds abandoned the slow tank and let it sink with the base. Sabre gave the soldier to another and jumped back to the base. He grabbed another soldier and quickly ferried him to the safe zone. Sabre saw Kimball sinking. She was hanging on to a soldier who had lost his leg in an explosion. Sabre jumped to Kimball and grabbed her. He tried to carry both, but they were too heavy.

"Sorry general," the soldier said.

The soldier let go and Sabre brought Kimball to the safe zone. He went back to the soldier, only to see a gloved hand disappear into the ground. All the soldiers in the safe zone watched as the base they had fought so hard for sunk into the ground along with their only tank, several warthogs, and a few hundred of their peers. Some cried, others had a horrified expression on their face. Sabre just watched, merely surprised. He had been desensitized to death, thanks to Director Leonard Church, but nothing like this. The remaining Chorus forces, numbering around two hundred, slowly marched back to their base, their happiness broken by their losses.

Felix watched his base sink, along with much of the Chorus Army's equipment and manpower. He nodded, content with the operation. He ordered his pirates to set up a temporary base where they stood.

"Sir, Control wants to speak with you," one of the pirates said.

Felix's smile died and he asserted himself. The pirate brought a datapad and Chairman Malcolm's face appeared.

"Felix," the chairman said with quiet rage, "am I reading the latest report correctly? I just received it a minute ago."

"Yes sir," Felix said with Locus-like seriousness.

"Do you realize how much a base like yours costs? I do not have unlimited finances Felix. The UNSC will not stand for my asking for another base," Malcolm said.

Felix nodded.

"Felix another slip-up like this and I will have to terminate our contract...and you," Malcolm said, leaning in, "Do I make myself clear?"

Felix looked around. The pirates had stopped working and were listening intently.

"Crystal...sir," Felix said through his teeth.

Malcolm straightened up and nodded. He disappeared and Felix stared at the static. He gripped the datapad tighter and through it into one of the pirates, knocking him unconscious.

"Back...to...work," Felix ordered.

The pirates scrambled to make the temporary base, finishing Felix's quarters first. Felix sat in his bunk and thought about Malcolm.

 _Another slip up like this and I will have to terminate our contract...and you._

Felix closed his eyes, mentally troubled for the first time in years.

...

* * *

 **WOW! What a story. Well, what did ya'll think of it? Yes this is the end of the second story in the Sabre Chronicles. The third story will be an origins story for Sabre. I have a feeling ya'll will want to know how he knows Felix and what he's done for Project Freelancer. I didn't reach my word goal of 8,000 :(, but that's ok. 4,836 is good. Also, don't forget to visit my profile for announcements and update info. My wall is pretty plain, but it has the important stuff. Well, cya in the next part.**

 **-Angel**


	4. Origins

_Two weeks after the Chorus "Victory"..._

Sabre sat on the roof of the Command Center. The A.I.s were with Epsilon. He thought about his life and how he got to where he was today. He heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Kimball standing behind him. She walked over and sat down next to him.

"Didn't see you at the victory celebration after the memorial. Eta told me you would be up here," She said.

Sabre nodded. Good ol' Eta...always looking after him. She was like the mother he never had. Sabre took off his helmet, letting the cool cave breeze hit his face.

"Tell me about yourself Sabre. How did a soldier like you end up in a place like this?" Kimball asked.

Sabre thought about it.

"It's a long, and not very pleasant, story," Sabre said.

"I've had my fair share of unpleasantness and I'm not needed in the Command Center right now. I've got some time," Kimball said.

Sabre chuckled. He like Kimball. She was the type of general who cared for her soldiers. Sabre leaned back on his arms.

"Well...if you insist," he said, letting memories long repressed back into his mind.

 ** _"_** My early childhood is nothing special. I grew up to a soldier, a SPARTAN-IV in fact, named Sean Forge. His wife was a colonist from Reach named Shelia. My mother died at childbirth. They say that my father never cried during battle or when he loses he friends, but he broke out in tears when Shelia died. I can't blame him; losing a friend is nothing like losing your wife. He raised me with high standards: always sit up at the table, remember your "please" and "thank you's," et cetera, et cetera. It was easy to live up to those standards. I was always a good-natured, respectable boy. That all changed once I went to school."

"As I have said, my dad is a soldier. He went into the Navy Reserves after retiring from the spartans. He sent me to a boarding school in New York. I never got the notice that he was deployed to Ealen IV. I found out about his deployment after a spartan from his team came in and told me he had died."

Kimball looked at Sabre and took off her own helmet. She put it down and looked into Sabre's face. She put a hand on his shoulder. Sabre chuckled/cried at himself.

"My dad always put his hand on my shoulder, " he said.

He sniffled some more and managed to clear his eyes. He chuckle again.

"I guess it was good for me to join the spartans while I was still single, huh?" Sabre said.

Vanessa smiled a bit. Sabre took a deep breath and cleared his head.

"Where was I?" He asked himself, "Oh yeah. So I went to a boarding school in New York for a while. My father's squad mate took care of me for a short time before my grandmother in New Phoenix was called to take me in. Oh, you would have loved to meet my grandparents. My grandfather fought in the Insurrection before the Human-Covenant War. My grandmother was a nurse during the Fall of Reach. They've had their fair share of battlefield experience and taught me everything they knew about it. My grandfather had his old battle rifle from Reach. He told me, 'This rifle has saved my life more than once. Always take care of your rifle.' I would just nod and stare at the rifle. My grandmother had the same personality you have Kimball. She was sweet, caring, and always looking out for people."

Sabre shifted and popped his neck before laying on his back.

"So, I lived with my grandparents for a few years until I was old enough to join the military. My first real mission was one of the halo rings, I don't remember which one it was. I fought on one halo ring and the Ark. I was there when New Mombasa was glassed. After New Mombasa, I took some time off to celebrate my grandpa's birthday and their retirement anniversary. I returned to service a few weeks later and was approached by a spartan in brown armor. She introduced herself as Agent Texas. She told me of a UNSC spartan-based Special Operations Division known as Project Freelancer. She was sent to recruit me specifically."

Kimball looked at Sabre with a critical eye. Sabre looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, I wasn't captured and ordered to say this. Project Freelancer wasn't so evil when I joined," Sabre reassured, "Anyway, I was kind of bored with the marine corp, so I agreed. They took care of everything with my CO. Soon, I found myself on a pelican bound of the _Mother of Invention._ I underwent extensive augmentation to match the speed and strength of the other agents. Then I underwent general training with Washington and Maine. After general training, I was trained under North Dakota in the sniper rifle system."

Sabre chuckled at himself.

"What?" Kimball asked him.

"This is where I get my ass handed to me by Carolina and Texas," Sabre said.

Kimball held back her own chuckle.

"Really?" she sounded like a teenage girl.

Sabre nodded. Sabre chuckled at himself as he recalled the beating.

"I ran my mouth a lot before I went AWOL. One day, that got me in trouble. I challenged Texas and Carolina, who were the two best agents in the project, to a match. Texas just bluntly agreed and Carolina went along with it. I thought that if I took out Texas first, I could have a better chance at fighting Carolina. Well, Texas was tougher than she looked. She simply blocked my one strike and let Carolina take care of the rest. I managed to retaliate by throwing Carolina into Texas and it all went down hill from there," Sabre said.

Kimball was trying to hold back a smile.

"You can laugh Kimball, I laughed too," Sabre said.

Kimball chuckled and Sabre soon joined her. The two burst out laughing for a while. Sable wiped a tear from his eye and stopped his laughing.

"We went on several missions: Sidewinder, Blood Gulch, Reach, and Onyx. Onyx was the show stopper for me. They tried to kill me and South Dakota, but we managed to escape. We fought our way through the Freelancer A.I. containment facility only to find it empty. Texas led a team against me, but we escaped again," Sabre continued.

"You are pretty lucky," Kimball said.

Sabre nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose I am," Sabre thought about something for a moment, then continued, "South and I escaped to Harvest where we hid for a few months. During that time, I helped train Harvest's militia. They were good soldiers; loyal and daring. After few months, Freelancer found us again. By this time, the Meta had escaped and they were on the ropes. I guess the Director was desperate or something because he just shot a mac round at our hiding spot."

"Really? And you survive?!" Kimball asked.

"Eta locked up my armor. I flew back and was unconscious for a while. When I wake up, I'm in some ship's cryochamber. The captain tried to take Eta because she was not cooperating and disrespectful, but I stopped him. He eventually left me alone," Sabre looked at the setting sun and decides to cut the story short, "So...someone tried to kill me, I killed them, the ship blew up and I fell here. The rest is history."

Kimball looked at Sabre critically. She had a feeling he wasn't telling her something. Kimball stood with Sabre.

"Thanks for the story Sabre. It was touching," Kimball said.

Sable nodded and watched as the general left. Sabre sighed and Sigma came up.

"Agent Sabre, I need your assistance for a moment," Sigma said.

"Alright Sig, I'll be there soon," Sabre said.

As Sabre went down to the war room, he thought about whether he should tell Kimball, and everyone for that matter, about his secret...

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUUUUN! What is this? Secrets? I believe will have to look at it in the next installment.**

 **Also, sorry I haven't been updating, like, at all. I have two reasons (or excuses, whichever you guys take it): 1) I have been very forgetful. Terrible memory I tell you. 2) I have a big project that I am currently working on. I mean, like, it's gonna be HUGE!**

 **(9-12-15 update)**

 **Hey guys,**

 **So, I guess I have a few things to talk about. Heh...**

 **First thing's first: I'm really sorry I haven't done anything to my stories. I've just been so forgetful and busy with school and sports. I guess that's what happens when you have big plans for junior year. Anyway, sorry guys and I'll make it up to you this weekend (even though homework has been hoarding my free time).**

 **Second of all: RvB Sabre is still going to be my main focus. I saw the last bit of Season 13 just last night (can I get a moment of silence for Church? :'( ). So, I'm going to try to shape my story around it. Stay tuned for it.**

 **Third** **: I have recently ("recently" means this morning) started watching another Rooster Teeth series, RWBY. I've only watched the first three episodes and there is two seasons, so don't expect a fanfic anytime soon (yes, I plan to write one). Anyway, if ya'll have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.**

 **Aaaaaand, I think that's it. Again, sorry for the prolonged inactivity, but worry not for I have returned. :)**


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